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Page 9 





Chinks of 



BY 

KATE W^'IhAMILTOK, 

Authok of “Shadow of “Norah Neil,” etc. 






PHILADELPHIA : 

PRESBYTERIAN BOARD OF PUBLICATION, 

No. 1334 Chestnut Street. 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1872, by 

' THE TRUSTEES OF THE 

PRESBYTERIAN BOARD OF PUBLICATION, 


In the Office of tlie Librarian of Congress, at Washington. 


/Z-3Z£'93 


Westcott & Thomsok 
Stereotypers, Philada. 


‘‘ Every one must build,” said Kent, his thoughts 
going back to one of Aunt Gray’s twilight talks. 

“Well, what are you building?” asked Louis, 
suddenly. 

The question was unexpected, and Kent paused a 
moment to consider. 

“ Not much by myself, I believe,” he said, “ only 
trying to help along a little in what others are 
doing — -filling up the chinhsj* 


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Chinks of Clannyford. 


CHAPTER I. 

UITE in the suburbs of the busy town, 
where the noise of its strife and toil came 
but faintly, in a broad, quiet, pleasant 
street, the June sunlight looked down upon 
a beautiful home. There was a stately house with 
wide lawn and grand, shadowy old trees ; a garden 
bright with flowers ; vases filled with trailing vines ; 
statues gleaming here and there, and a fountain 
flashing in the morning sunlight and flinging its 
glittering mist of spray far out on the soft green 
grass. 

By the gate, where a broad carriage-drive opened 
out upon the highway, a boy some fourteen years 
of age was standing — or rather leaning against the 
high gate-post — his arms folded and his gaze wan- 
dering dreamily up and down the road. A frank, 
blithe, bright face, his looked, even under its veil 

5 



6 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFORB. 


of thoughtfulness, like one whose abounding life 
and activity would scarcely allow him to remain 
long idle. The sound of feet on the graveled road 
suddenly ended his reverie. He turned quickly 
as a man approached leading a horse, and a little 
tone of impatience flashed into his voice as he 
called : 

Hurry up, Barney ! Fve been waiting this 
long time !” 

‘^Shure, it’s hurryin’ I’ve been for the last half 
hour,” responded Barney, composedly. ‘^Here’s 
Lio all ready for thravelin’, an’ I’m hopin’ he’ll 
go well, for it’s mesilf can tistify that he won’t 
hould still well.” 

Ah, Lio, my fine fellow ! in good spirits, are 
you ?” The boy stroked the animal’s glossy neck 
caressingly. We will be off, then.” 

You’d beither be takin’ up wid my counsel, 
Masther Kint, anj stay where ye are,” said the 
man. It’ll rain long enough afore the day’s 
over.” 

The sky looked as sunny and blue as the eyes 
which the boy lifted toward it. His glance swept 
the horizon, then rested in merry unbelief upon 
the face of his counselor. 

Oh, Barney, you are no prophet !” 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFORD. 


7 


No profit, ain’t I, thin ? Sliure, your father 
must be havin’ a quare fancy for misfortunate 
bargains, an’ him a-payin’ me wages for this tin 
years, intirely !” responded Barney, with a humor- 
ous twinkle of the eyes that looked out from under 
his old straw hat. 

Kent laughed. 

You are good at almost everything else, Barney, 
but you are a poor barometer.” 

Barney’s ignorance this time was real instead 
of feigned. He scratched his head with a puzzled 
look, and at last admitted, though with evident 
reluctance : 

“ Barnometer ? barnometer ? I thought I knowed 
everything about a barn, but that’s a thrifle I don’t 
just rightly comprehind, it’s thrue for ye.” 

Just then a red face was thrust out of the open 
window of a little house near tli€ gate, and a 
woman’s voice called : 

^^Now, thin, jist ride where ye plaze, an’ a good 
time to you, Masther Kint, darlint, an’ don’t be 
heedin’ Barney’s botherin’ ; it’s himself as is al- 
ways seein’ signs of rain, an’ spilin’ a body’s com- 
fort wid his blatherin’ storms. Shure, it’s a fine 
day, intirely.” 

So it is, Peggy.” Kent was already mounted. 


8 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFOBB. 


He laughed, touched Lio and sped out through 
the gateway and up the street, passing fine old 
residences and pretty cottages, until the houses 
began to grow more and more distant from each 
other, tastefully-ornamented grounds giving place 
to long sweeps of meadow and the quiet street 
merging into a still more quiet country road. 

The boy rode more slowly when the city was 
fairly behind him. The green fields stretching 
away under the sunlight, and the narrow strips 
of woodland that occasionally threw cool shadows 
on his path and made the air fragrant with the 
breath of wild flowers, were in themselves a subtle 
temptation to loitering. Then, too, there was a 
thought busy in Kent Graham’s heart that day 
that made him almost unconscious whether he were 
riding fast or slow — a vague unrest that had kept 
him dissatisfied and half impatient all the morn- 
ing, and had had no little share in starting him 
forth on his trip. He could give the troublesome 
guest no name ; he did not know what it was that 
he wanted or did not want, or was dissatisfied 
with. His vacation, looked forward to with boy- 
ish eagerness, had suddenly become a burden upon 
his hands ; his plans of pleasure seemed not worth 
the carrying out. 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFOED. 


9 


Nothing to do but amuse myself, and I can’t 
do that,” he murmured to himself, in a half amused, 
half vexed way, at last. suspect ‘myself’ 

isn’t quite big enough to fill myself, and I shall 
have to take in some extra stock. Any way. I’ll 
go out to Uncle Nathan’s and see what they are all 
about.” 

He caught up the bridle he had been holding so 
loosely, and was starting forward at a more rapid 
pace, when a figure by the wayside caused him 
quickly to draw rein again. A short distance from 
the road ran a small stream, and near it, upon the 
trunk of a fallen tree, sat a boy larger and appar- 
ently two years older than Kent. His head was 
bent down, his chin supported by his hands, while 
his elbows rested upon his knees. His torn hat, 
drawn low over his eyes, revealed at the back a 
mass of thick black curls. His face was turned 
away from the road, and if he had heard any one 
approaching, he gave no token of such conscious- 
ness, until Kent, having scanned him for a moment, 
called questioningly : 

“ Sam ? Sam Cresly, is that you ?” 

He partly turned then, and answered briefly and 
rather gruffly : 

“Yes.” 


10 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFOBI). 


I haven’t seen you this long time/’ Kent said, 
cordially, approaching him. What are you doing 
here ?” he added, a little curiously. 

Nothing but minding my own business,” was 
the reply, in a tone that plainly indicated a wish 
that his questioner would engage in the same 
laudable occupation, and taking no notice what- 
ever of the kindly greeting, he turned his head 
still farther away. 

What is the matter, Sam ?” asked Kent, in an 
altered tone, after a moment’s silence. 

It don’t concern you what the matter is,” said 
Sam, his impatience bursting all bounds at the 
question. I want to be let alone, that’s all ! 
It’s a free country — leastways, they say it is — and 
I’ve a right to sit here if I want to; it don’t 
trouble you any, and the sooner you ride on, the 
better.” 

Are you crazy, Sam Cresly ?” demanded Kent, 
anger and astonishment struggling for the mastery. 
^‘What do you mean by talking to me in that 
style ?” 

In his indignant surprise he emphasized the 
little word ^^me” almost unconsciously, but Sam 
noticed it in an instant, and commented sneeringly : 

Talk to you that way ! Oh yes ; nobody 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFORD. 


11 


must say anything to you that you don’t like! 
You are Kent Graham, and your father is rich 
and owns the mill. I’m nothing to nobody; you 
might go to old Grail and get me turned out of my 
place ; you’d better do it 1” 

Kent’s face flushed angrily. His was a gener- 
ous nature, to which the very fact of possessing 
any power over another by which he could wound 
or injure was sufficient reason why that one, of 
all others, should be secure. So, though this im- 
putation was hard to bear, there yet was that in it 
which curbed his resentment, and he only an- 
swered : 

I don’t think I could do anything of the kind 
if I would, and I would not if I could ; you know 
that as well as I do. If you want the whole 
brookside to yourself, you can have it ; you are not 
civil enough to have anybody care to stay with 
you long.” 

Sam looked after him as he rode away, watching 
until he was out of sight. 

Crazy to talk to him that way?’ Well, 
sfpose I was,” he muttered ; only made him mad, 
an4 didn’t do me no good. But I don’t care — no, 
I don’t. What right had he, all dressed up and 
riding his fine horse, to ask me what’s the matter ? 


12 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFOBD. 


It’s nothing to him. He has all he wants — money 
and friends and a good time; everybody notices 
him, and cares for him, and is glad to see him. 
He’d find what the matter was quicT^ enough if he 
was like me — only a poor ragged feller that worked 
in the mill, and his father a — ” 

The boy paused suddenly and leaned his head 
down upon the old trunk with a quick breath that 
was half a sob. 

Kent rode on rapidly, his lips compressed and 
his eyes flashing for a few moments, until his vexa- 
tion seemed partly to have expended itself in his 
quick ride. Then he fell into a slower pace and 
calmer thought, but his brow grew more puzzled 
as the flush passed away from it. That wasn’t a 
bit like Sam Cresly! I do wonder what is the 
matter with him ?” was the question that formed 
itself again and again, and to which he could find 
no answer. A beautiful tuft of violets, lifting 
their heads from their beds of moss, caught his 
eye, and suggested a new thought : 

How Aunt Gray would like those ! I’ll ride 
through Clannyford and take them to her ; maybe 
she can tell me about Sam and dismounting, he 
soon possessed himself of the fragrant blossoms. 

Clannyford — or Clanny’s Ford, as the place had 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFOBD. 


13 


been origii^ally called — was on the river side, about 
two miles from the city. It was only a small 
village that had grown up around the Graham 
Mills, and its houses, with few exceptions, were 
occupied by those who were employed in the great 
manufactory, yet the beauty of its situation and 
its quiet loveliness attracted many an admiring 
glance from occasional visitors. Although Kent’s 
direct route did not lie through the village, it re- 
quired nd great digression to visit it, and leaving 
the main road, he turned his horse’s head in that 
direction. At one of the better class of houses, 
standing a little apart from the others and sur- 
rounded by a neat garden, he drew rein. A cozy 
little cottage it was, at whose door a kind, motherly 
face looked out before the boy had fairly dis- 
mounted. 

^^Ah, my boy, is it?” the old lady said, pleas- 
antly. 

Yes, aunty.” Kent followed her into the house 
with the air of one familiar with the place, and 
seated himself upon a low chintz-covered lounge 
by the open window, while she brought fresh 
water and arranged his already drooping violets 
in a slender vase. 

That room was very unlike any in Kent’s beauti- 


14 


CHIKES OF CLANNYFORD. 


ful home, yet his eyes always glanced about it 
admiringly — the home-made carpet covering the 
floor, the heavy old-fashioned arm-chairs, with their 
cushions of silken patchwork, the plain white cur- 
tains at the windows, and the hanging shelves, with 
their few books — and, indeed, could scarcely have 
offended older eyes and a more cultivated taste. 
The simple, cozy little nook suited well its occu- 
pant, with her gentle, quiet manner and her lovely 
face, for it was lovely, even though the hair that 
framed it was gray and time and sorrow had left 
their traces upon it. 

Aunt Gray,” as Kent called her, was a distant 
relative of his father’s, but from Robert Graham’s 
boyhood she had been to him, in all that best de- 
serves the name of friendship, a near friend. She 
had been the tender, faithful nurse of his young 
wife during her long illness, and had stood beside 
her deathbed. He felt for her an almost filial re- 
spect and affection, and in her old age, widowed 
and childless, he would gladly have welcomed her 
to his own home, but she preferred to keep her 
quiet life unchanged in the little home made dear 
by many memories. Countless tokens told, how- 
ever, that he did not forget her, and Kent was a 
frequent visitor— her boy, she fondly called him. 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFORD. 


15 


Hadn’t you better take Lio over to Mr. Grail’s 
stable ?” she asked, after a few moments. 

Oh, I did not come to stay this time. I only 
saw those flowers in the wood, and thought I would 
bring them to you.” 

Where are you going, then ?” 

^^Out to Uncle Nathan’s. I took a sudden 
fancy to do that this morning, because I didn’t 
know anything better to do.” 

^^Well, that is a very good thing in its way,” 
smiling; “only I thought you had planned so 
many things for this vacation that you couldn’t 
spend any of it out of town ?” 

“Yes,” answered Kent, slowly, “but I tired 
of them all ; they didn’t seem worth carrying out, 
aunty,” half laughing. “How can people make 
themselves happy ?” 

“ I don’t think they can,” she said, quietly. 

Kent looked up in surprise ; he had not expected 
that answer. 

“ What can they do, then ?” 

“ I do not know, unless they try to make others 
happy.” 

The color mounted suddenly to Kent’s face. 
Did she think him selfish ? 

She saw the look and guessed its cause. 


16 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFORD. 


I have heard physicians say, Kent, that people 
who are in the habit of constantly watching their 
own pulse are not very likely to have it beat regu- 
larly. I suspect the effect is very much the same 
if we are always keeping a finger upon our happi- 
ness to see how it ebbs and flows. It will live a 
longer, more healthful life if we do not watch it 
too closely.’^ 

I don’t do that,” he answered, quickly, as if 
her words had been an accusation. I don’t think 
about it at all, generally, any more than I do 
whether I’m breathing or not; only just some- 
times — I don’t know how or why — the life and 
pleasure seem to go out of everything. I don’t 
know what I want, and the things I have been 
caring about don’t seem worth much.” 

Perhaps they are not,” she answered, simply. 
Certainly she offered no remedy for the vague dis- 
content and unrest he had brought there. Kent 
wondered a little that she said nothing more, and 
he was silent for a few minutes, gazing thought- 
fully out of the window. Then recalling the 
errand upon which he had come, he turned toward 
her again : 

Aunty, is anything wrong with the Creslys ? — 
with Sam ?” 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFORD, 17 

know of nothing unusual the matter with 
Sam. His father has been drinking worse than 
ever, and making them all a great deal of trouble.^^ 
wonder if that was all?’’ said the boy, 
musingly. 

Mrs. Gray looked at him in astonish- 
ment, and he laughed. 

^^Oh, I don’t mean to say that is not trouble 
enough for any family, aunty ! I was thinking, 
though, that I didn’t see why it should have made 
Sam so abominably uncivil this morning. I came 
across him a little way out of the village sitting 
alone by the brook. At first he would hardly 
speak to me at all, and when he did, he gave me 
to understand, in very plain English, that my 
room would be decidedly better than my company.” 

Ah ! Kent, my dear,” said Mrs. Gray, shaking 
her head, with a smile, if you find it hard to be 
happy with all that the world can give you, you 
might become even morose and uncivil, sometimes, 
with a home as wretched as Sam Cresly’s, espe- 
cially if you were often denied even that miserable 
shelter by the insane fury of a drunken father, 
notwithstanding that you worked hard day after 
day to bring into it such poor scraps of comfort as 
it possessed.” 


18 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFORD. 


That’s a fact/’ said Kent, soberly. Poor 
fellow !” He leaned his head on the window-sill, 
and tried, for a few moments, to imagine himself 
in Sam’s place, and to fancy what he would have 
been like under such circumstances. 

Mrs. Gray left the room, and went out to the 
little kitchen adjoining, looking back presently to 
say, 

‘^Wait a few minutes, Kent; you must have 
some dinner before you go.” 

Oh no, thank you, aunty ; it isn’t nearly din- 
ner-time yet.” 

But it will be long after it before you get to 
your uncle’s ; it is nearly sixteen miles, remember. 
How came you to go this way instead of by the 
railroad ?” 

Just for the fun of it. I’ve been by the cars 
so many times, and I never went across the country 
but once ; besides, I wanted to take Lio.” 

The old lady looked a little doubtful about the 
wisdom of the plan. 

"What did your father say to it ?” she asked. 

The boy laughed. 

Just what he almost always does — ^Do as you 
please about it; only take good care of yourself, 
and don’t get into trouble.’ ” 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFOnn. 


19 


The lady’s smile ended in a sigh as she went 
back. Kent’s life, tenderly shielded as it was, 
knew almost no control. The father was fond 
and proud of his bright, intelligent, high-spirited 
boy, and as long as he pleased himself” and 
kept ^^out of trouble,” he seemed satisfied, and. 
required very little else. Was this self-pleasing, 
self-care and avoiding of trouble the highest aim 
that was ever to be set before him? Mrs. Gray 
wondered, as she moved about arranging plates 
and cups. 

I am making you trouble. Aunt Gray,” Kent 
said, regretfully, as he watched her through the 
open door. 

Pleasant trouble, then, if there is such a 
thing. My boy does not come so often that I 
can afford to be inhospitable. Come, now, and eat 
your dinner.” 

Kent enjoyed the simple dinner with boyish 
zest, his ride and the quaint, old-fashioned china, 
which he greatly admired, aiding his appetite, 
perhaps. He did not know any other garden that 
raised such tender radishes and delicious straw- 
berries. What splendid cream that was, too ! and 
those biscuit ! Some way, Phillis never made any 
that tasted like them. Aunty,” after the manner 


2d CHINKS OF CLANNYFOBD. 

of every good housewife everywhere, looked on 
and listened well pleased. 

Now I will not keep you any longer,’^ she said 
as he arose. “ I shall not be surprised if we have 
rain before night, so don’t ride too slowly.” 

That is what Barney told me,” answered Kent 
as he mounted and waved a good-bye. I’ll ride 
fast.” Still, as he glanced up at the sky, he fan- 
cied both cautions had been needless: he could 
discover no signs of a storm. 

Out of the village and into the country road 
again he passed, and followed its windings over 
gentle hills and into valleys broken by rippling 
streams, the pleasant woods and green fields 
giving place now and then to a substantial farm- 
house. Yet,- despite the beauty of the landscape 
and his enjoyment of it, the boy began, after a 
time, to realize that his one trip across the country 
had not made him so familiar with the route as he 
had fancied, and he was obliged, where two roads 
met, to stop and consider which one to take. Two 
or three times he inquired at a house or of some 
chance passer-by, and once, on so doing, found 
himself quite out of the way and compelled to 
retrace his steps for more than a mile, so that 
altogether his progress was not very rapid. He 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFOMH 


21 


cared but little about that, however : he was in no 
hurry to reach his journey’s end ; and, after all, the 
not knowing exactly where he was had a certain 
charm of novelty about it which he made the 
most of in his easy, careless way. 

He had been thinking of Sam Cresly and his 
hard, cheerless life, and almost forgetting what was 
around him, when he suddenly became conscious 
that the bright sunshine had vanished, and looking 
up, he saw that the clouds were gathering thickly 
over the sky so clear a few hours before. 

Doubly warned, yet I shall be caught in the 
rain at last if I am not careful ! It is just about 
like you, Kent Graham, to keep your eyes staring 
at a bit of blue sky before you, and never look to 
see what is behind you,” he said. We are a 
pretty couple, Lio, and we had better travel fast if 
we want to save ourselves a wetting.” 

Lio offered no objection to the suggestion, and 
started forward at a quicker pace. But the sum- 
mer storm gathered fast, and Kent, glancing 
upward again as he entered a wood, saw that the 
whole sky was overcast. He urged his horse for- 
ward still more rapidly as a low, muttering peal 
of thunder fell upon his ears. Still darker 
and darker it grew, the great shadowy trees add- 


22 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFORD. 


ing to the gloom, and the thunder grew nearer 
and louder. On, on, went horse and rider, the. 
young traveler watching anxiously to see the 
wood growing lighter and the trees farther apart, 
that he might know he was coming into the open 
country again and hope to reach some farmhouse. 
He looked in vain. The forest grew thicker, more 
dense about him, and darker, save as vivid flashes 
of lightning began to light it. Still he pressed 
forward for another mile, though with a growing 
conviction that he had mistaken the road. At last 
the heavy drops began to fall around him. He 
had surely lost his way ; that forest he never had 
passed through. Where should he find shelter? 
Under the tall trees he did not dare to pause; the 
lightning was becoming so intense as to render 
them unsafe, even if they could have furnished 
secure protection from the rain. Suddenly a small 
clearing opened before him, and within it stood a 
tiny hut. The boy paused for no second glance or 
thought, but rode to it, dismounted and knocked 
hurriedly at the door. 

A woman, dark and tall, bearing in her tawny 
face and erect form some resemblance to both gypsy 
and Indian, answered the summons, and to his 
brief explanation and request replied by a bewil- 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFORD. 


23 


dered stare, then, after a moment’s hesitation, threw 
the door wide open to admit him. Kent glanced 
at his horse. What could he do for poor Lio ? 
Some long boards were placed on end against one 
side of the house — if the place could be so called — 
forming a kind of shed. He pointed to it: 

Can I put my horse there ?” 

The woman nodded assent, and in a moment 
more the animal was led under its shelter, while 
his master sought that of the hut, none too soon to 
avoid the drenching rain that came pouring down. 
Shaking the water from his hat, and brushing it as 
well as he could from his clothing, the boy ac- 
cepted the upturned tub toward which the woman 
pointed him as a seat, and surveyed the situation. 
A low, rudely-built hut of rough boards, with only 
the ground for a floor, two windows, or rather 
places for windows, for while one contained a single 
sash in which panes of glass and holes were equally 
divided, the other was only a square aperture, 
with no pretence of ever having been anything 
else. For furniture, the place contained the tub 
on which he sat, a large iron kettle that stood in 
one corner, a chair without any back and a long 
bench. At one end of the building was an oddly- 
fashioned fireplace of stones plastered up with 


24 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFORD. 


clay ; at the opposite end three or four boards had 
been laid down, and over them, in a confused mass, 
was scattered a quantity of straw, rags and old 
garments — bed and clothes-press in one. 

A girl of fifteen or sixteen years, lighter com- 
plexioned than the woman who had appeared at 
the door, and with long light hair almost tlie 
color of the dirty faded dress she wore hanging 
about her shoulders, sat upon the bench. A quan- 
tity of willow was scattered around her, some of 
which she was weaving into a basket. The broken 
chair was occupied by an old woman — very, very 
old she seemed to -Kent, with her dark, wrinkled 
face looking out from a mat of rough gray hair. 
Her feet were bare, as were those of the other 
two, and her dress consisted of a skirt of bright 
flannel, with a piece of an old bed-quilt pinned 
about her shoulders. She raised her bleared eyes 
toward the boy when he first entered, but after 
that did not seem to notice him. The girl glanced 
at him with a kind of stupid curiosity now and 
then, but no one spoke to him. 

He thought the three were the only occupants 
of the room at first, but presently there was a 
rustling in the corner, and out from among the 
rags and straw a little head was pushed, and a 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFORD. 


25 


pair of large black eyes were fixed in solemn as- 
tonishment upon Kent’s face. For about two min- 
utes the head was all that was visible; then the 
child, a boy five or six years old, began slowly to 
creep out from his covering, and at last stood 
upon his feet, never once turning his gaze from 
the visitor. There was another pause, another 
long look, and then he slowly crept up step by 
step until he was within reach, when, stretching 
out his hand, he touched Kent’s sleeve cautiously, 
as though he were some strange animal with which 
it might not be quite safe to meddle. Finding 
that no harm ensued, he repeated the experiment, 
and then growing bolder, he walked around the 
young stranger, viewing him curiously on every 
side. 

Kent could not help in some measure returning 
the compliment, with a feeling of blended pity and 
amusement. The dark-faced, black-eyed little fel- 
low presented a singular figure, clad as he was in 
garments that had originally belonged to some one 
twice his size, and that had known no other alter- 
ation than a simple cutting off of the superfluous 
length. 

Will you tell me what your name is ?” asked 
Kent, at length, anxious to divert the child from 


26 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFORD. 


his occupation of examining his jacket buttons 
with his little dirty brown fingers. 

The black eyes searched his face for an instant, 
as if suspicious that some evil intention lurked 
under the question, and their owner withdrew a 
step or two before he answered : 

^^And whose boy are you?’’ pursued Kent, 
pleasantly, for the sound of a voice made that 
gloomy place seem a little more like a human 
habitation. 

“ Hey ?” said the child, wonderingly. 

“ Won’t you tell me who your father is?” 

The perplexed look deepened on Dan’s face. 

‘^Father? What’s father? If ye mean Joe, 
he’s dead, an’ if ye mean Pipe, he’s scooted off. 
Mean Pipe ?” 

^^No,” answered Kent, bewildered in his turn. 

What’s father?” said Dan, again. never 
seen none.” 

Scoot, Dan! Clear away, I tell ye!” inter- 
posed the tall woman suddenly, though without 
looking up from her basket-weaving. Dan re- 
treated to his corner, and the young traveler was 
once more left in silence. 

He glanced anxiously out of the window; it 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFORD. 


27 


was still raining violently. He looked at his 
watch; it was already after four. He began to 
wish himself well out of the adventure. Another 
hour dragged slowly by. The vivid lightning had 
passed away and the thunder had subsided into an 
occasional low and distant peal, but the rain still 
fell heavily and showed no signs of abating. The 
boy began to dread being obliged to remain all 
night in his strange and uncomfortable quarters. 
He would far rather have braved the storm if 
he had known in which direction to ride, but he 
did not. Once he appealed to the girl : 

Do you know the road to Stafford 
Dunno. Sime does.^^ 

Where is Sime asked Kent, eagerly. 

Dunno ; dl come after while.^^ 

He could gain nothing more, and there was 
left for him only to exercise what patience he 
could. 

After a time the door was thrown open, and 
there entered a large, rough-looking man bringing 
several pieces of fresh meat. He was followed by 
a boy considerably larger and older than Kent 
who carried a bag slung over his shoulder. Each 
deposited his burden, and then turned a question- 
ing look upon the stranger. 


28 


CHICKS OF CLANNYFORD. 


^^Got mazed in the timber, an’ clriv’ in out the 
rain,” explained the tall woman, briefly. 

The man muttered something in reply that Kent 
did not understand, and the'boy turned toward him 
with a kind of grin-. 

Do you know the road to Stafford ?” questioned 
Kent, desperately. 

^^Yaas.” 

Could I find the way to-night, do you think?” 

'^Dunno; it’ll be dark.” 

If you could show me the way — ” Kent began. 
The boy shrugged his shoulders. 

^^Yaas, arter it’s done raining,” he answered, 
turning away; his attention seeming to be fully 
absorbed in the movements of the woman, wdio, 
partly filling the large kettle with water, cut 
some of the meat into it and hung it over the' 
fire. That done, she oj)ened the bag which the 
boy had brought in, displaying to view a strange 
medley of broken bits of bread, cold biscuit, pota- 
toes and fragments of meat. She selected some 
potatoes and some pieces of bread and threw them 
into the kettle, then tying the rest up in the bag, 
deposited it in one corner of the room. 

Kent did not doubt that the pieces were the 
fruits of a begging excursion, and felt pretty sure 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFOBD. 


29 


among what people he had fallen — an idle, misera- 
ble tribe who had been for a long time the deni- 
zens of that wood, living by begging, basket-mak- 
ing, and it was strongly suspected by stealing also. 
He had heard of them often. Yauncees, the coun- 
try people called them, though it was not known 
how the name originated, and they were supposed 
to be a branch of the gypsy tribe. Kent’s position 
was extremely unpleasant, but he could see no 
remedy. It was fast growing dark, and there was 
nothing for him to do but resign himself to the 
thought of remaining where he was until morning. 

When the simple cooking was completed, the 
woman lifted the kettle from the fire and placed 
it upon the ground, and then there was a general 
rush toward it, each one armed with a kind of 
spoon or ladle. Even the old woman seemed to 
awaken to something like interest then, and made 
her way toward it with the rest. They contented 
themselves with using their spoons as long as the 
stew remained too hot for anything else, but as it 
grew cooler, fingers performed good service in fish- 
ing out choice bits. There was no invitation ex- 
tended to Kent, and, indeed, he was far from wish- 
ing that there should be, though he congratulated 
himself upon the thought of that early dinner which 


30 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFOBD. 


Aunt Gray’s kindness had provided, and which at 
the time he had thought so unnecessary. 

The night settled down drearily, and presently 
the inmates of the hut began throwing themselves 
down to sleep among the rags and straw, leaving 
their guest to dispose of himself as he best could. 
He could scarcely complain, however, as they treated 
him with quite as much attention as they bestowed 
upon each other. For some time he kept his seat, 
but wearying at last of the one position, he took 
possession of the long bench, that had been vacated, 
and stretched himself upon it. There was for him 
but little sleep that night. The hard bed and 
strange surroundings would have made him wake- 
ful, even if he had been free from anxiety and 
fear, which he was not. He was not naturally 
timid, yet stories that he had heard and read came 
up unbidden to trouble him with their suggestions. 
He thought uneasily of his horse and watch, and 
the temptation they might prove to those about 
him, and wondered vaguely, if anything should 
happen to him there in that lonely wood, how 
long it would be before his friends would know 
of his situation. His father would think him safe 
at his uncle’s ; it would be days before he would 
grow so anxious as to write or send for him. At 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFORD. 


31 


his uncle’s they did not even know that he had 
left home. None who loved him knew where he 
was — no one but God. 

Kent’s silent prayer that night was more earnest 
than it sometimes was — not so broken with wan- 
dering thoughts as in his pleasant room at home. 
The shutting away of earthly friends made the 
One seem nearer; the distance and weakness of 
human aid revealed more clearly the omnipotent 
Arm that upheld his life, the God in whose hand 
his breath was, and whose were all his ways. 



CHAPTER II. 


T was a long, long night, but the morning 
came at last, and the boy, awakening from a 
light slumber into which he had at length 
fallen, gladly welcomed the first gray dawn. 
As soon as it was light enough he stole quietly 
out to look for Lio, and found him safely fastened 
where he had left him, but looking up with a low 
whinnying that seemed to ask what he had done to 
deserve so poor a lodging and no supper. Kent 
stroked and caressed him, as if he had indeed been 
some lost treasure recovered, and the horse in 
return rubbed his cold nose against his master’s 
face. Then the boy went out to the roadside and 
looked about him in every direction, but his hur- 
ried ride through the storm had completely be- 
wildered him ; he did not know where he was, 
and could not decide in what way to go. 

The people were all astir when he returned to 
the hut, and he at once applied to Sime for his 
promised services as guide, but that personage 

only shrugged his shoulders, and cast an affec- 
32 



CHINKS OF CLANNYFORD. 


33 


tionate glance toward the pot that was once more 
swung over the fire. Kent at once comprehended 
the uselessness of expecting him to leave the place 
while there was a prospect of anything to eat. 
The rain had ceased, though it was still cloudy, 
and preferring Lio’s companionship to that of his 
entertainers, he went out again, and walked back 
and forth before the open door, while within the 
scene of the previous evening was repeated. After 
a time Si me came to the door, wiping his mouth 
with the back of his hand. The old woman fol- 
lowed him with tottering steps, and as she stood a 
moment steadying herself by the rude doorpost, 
her eyes fell upon the young stranger, and drawing 
an old pipe from under her blanket quilt, she 
pushed it toward him and asked in mumbling tones 
for baccer.’’ 

Such a forlorn picture of old age she looked 
that Kent, moved by a sudden impulse more 
pitying than wise, dropped a piece of silver into 
her hand. Whatever else she did not know or 
had forgotten, the love of money still lingered, 
and she clutched her trembling fingers eagerly over 
the coin with a kind of low chuckle. The impru- 
dence of the gift was immediately made manifest, 
for the girFs bony hand wa^ at once stretched out 
3 


34 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFORD. 


for a like donation, and little Dan, with a large 
piece of meat still in one hand, rushed forward, 
and extending the other poor greasy little paw, 
repeated in singing tones the story he had been 
taught ; 

Please gimme some money? We’re all poor, 
an’ hain’t had nothin’ to eat sence yisterday 
mornin’.” 

However effective the plea might be in begging 
away from home, it was scarcely available under 
present circumstances, and, after one glance at 
him, Kent’s peal of laughter rang through the 
place. 

In an instant a blow beside the head sent the 
child reeling and crying to a corner, and the dark 
woman who had administered it turned to Kent 
with a manner she tried to make bland and per- 
suasive : 

Ye’ll please gin a poor woman suthin ? Hain’t 
got nothin’ to live on on’y what’s give us. Ye’ll 
gin me a little money fer the child ?” 

Kent, indignant at the treatment Dan had re- 
ceived, did not comply very willingly, but, de- 
pendent as he was upon their assistance to guide 
him out of the woods, he did not know how to 
refuse, so he gave her a piece of money, not as 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFOBD., 35 

large as she had hoped for, however, as her lower- 
ing brow and sudden turning away betrayed. 

Will you show me the way now asked Kent, 
turning to Sime. 

^‘Yaas,’^ responded Sime, languidly, and Kent, 
heartily glad to start, led out his horse, and mount- 
ing, passed out into the road, but there Sime paused 
and leaned composedly back against a tree. 

What ’ll ye gimme to show ye the road ?” he 
demanded. 

Kent looked his disgust, but he felt the help- 
lessness of his position. He had just three half 
dollars in his pocket, and after a ^moment’s thought 
he said : 

I will give you a half dollar.” 

Waal,” drawled Sime, gimme it, an’ I’ll show 

ye.” 

Kent handed him the money, and he started 
down the road, though at a gait so leisurely that 
it was rather trying to the young horseman. On 
through the trees they passed, and it seemed to 
the boy that in almost every place where a road 
branching off made it possible Sime turned. After 
almost an hour of this kind of traveling, he re- 
marked : 

This is not the way I came.” 


36 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFORD. 


No ; this un’s the t’other way/’ said Sime. 

It seems to me that you are leading me a great 
way round/’ added Kent, suspiciously. 

^^Yaas; it’s the way round,” responded Sime, 
serenely. 

There was nothing to do but follow him, and 
Kent rode on, congratulating himself when they 
were fairly out of the wood. At last, where four 
roads met, Sime paused, and to his companion’s 
impatient Why don’t you go on ?” replied : 

What ’ll ye gimme to show ye the rest of the 
way ?” 

have paid you already,” answered Kent, 
indignantly. 

’Tain’t nulf,” drawled the rapacious guide. 

^^If I ever do find my way out. I’ll feel like 
sending the police after you !” exclaimed Kent, 
forgetting possibilities in his sudden anger. 

’Ud ye come yerself an’ show ’em the way ?” 
queried Sime. 

Kent bit his lip in vexation and turned his 
eyes in every direction, but there was no house 
visible. Sime had selected a favorable spot for 
his purpose, and now coolly watched his victim’s 
survey of the premises; when it was concluded, 
he put in his proposition : 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFORD. 


37 


Gimme Wther half, an’ I’ll show ye the rest 
of the road.” 

Kent was strongly inclined to leave him and try 
to find the way alone, but the probability of his 
taking a wrong direction was at least equal to that 
of his finding the right one, and he was beginning 
to feel too tired and hungry willingly to run any 
risk of wandering far out of his direct course; 
moreover, the cloudy sky still threatened rain. 
So, after a few moments’ consideration, during 
which Sime waited with indolent patience, he 
said ; 

Go on, then.” 

Ye’ll gimme the half?” 

^^Yes.” 

The dark hand was reached up to take it, but 
Kent had gained wisdom by experience. 

^^You must show me the way first; I’ll not 
trust you again.” 

Ye’ll have to gimme the sil’er first,” persisted 
Sime, refusing to stir. 

^^Ko, I’ll not,” answered Kent, decisively. ^^If 
you don’t choose to show me first, and take your 
pay afterward, you won’t get it at all. You have 
got one half dollar for leading me wandering about 
through the woods, and I don’t mean you shall 


38 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFORD. 


have another until sure that I’m fairly on the 
Stafford road.” 

Sime threw himself sullenly down at the foot of 
a large tree, and began breaking a bit of dry stick 
in pieces. 

“ Well,” said Kent, impatiently, if you do not 
mean to go, I will do the best I can without you ;” 
and he rode slowly off. 

Sime’s desire for the money was strong. After 
his trickery he was somewhat afraid that he should 
not get any more even if he guided the boy right, 
but perceiving that he was certain to lose it by re- 
maining where he was, he called out : 

Say!” 

Kent looked around. 

Will ye gimme t’other half certain sure if I 
show ye ?” 

Yes ; I told you I would.” 

Waal, that’s the wrong road ; it’s this un 
and getting upon his feet, he started on again, and 
Kent followed. 

In half an hour they came out upon a smooth, 
straight road, which, indeed, might have been 
reached long before and in half the distance 
but for his purposely misleading, and then Sime 
said. 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFORD. 


39 


^‘This ’ere’s the way. Jes keep straight ahead.’’ 

Kent was inclined to believe him, but still he 
thought it just as well to have some additional 
evidence of being in the right way, and he made 
no reply. 

Gimme the money now.” 

'^Kot until we come to a house or meet some 
persons, so that I can ask and find out whether 
you are telling the truth or not.” 

ain’t a-goin’ no furder,” protested Sime, 
beginning to lag. 

^^Stay where you are, then,” answered Kent, 
riding steadily forward, and Sime, not willing to 
lose sight of the pocket that carried the half dollar, 
trudged along after him. 

It was but a few minutes, however, before they 
came in sight of a house, and in a field by the 
roadside a man was at work. 

How far is it to Stafford ?” Kent asked. 

^^Well, we calculate it’s about six miles,” an- 
swered the man, looking up. 

Can you tell me the way ?” 

The man came to the fence and rested his hand 
upon the rail. 

“ Keep straight on for about two miles ; you’ll 
come to a guide-board then/’ 


40 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFORD. 


Kent turned away with thanks, and Sime again I 
came up and stretched out his ever-ready hand. 

Ye ain’t a-goin’ to cheat me now, be ye?” 

Kent gave him the promised money, thorouglily 
glad to dispense with his company, and rode on 
alone. 

The six miles were soon traveled, but not before 
it had commenced raining again, and it was in a 
dripping condition that the young traveler at last 
passed through the familiar gate and rode up to 
his uncle’s house, 

Kent Graham ! on horseback, and in such a 
storm as this !” exclaimed his aunt, in astonish- 
ment. Where did you come from ?” 

^^Keally, Aunt Hetty, I don’t know,” he an- 
swered, comically — “that is, if you mean where I 
came from last. I started from home originally.” 

“ In an original way, too, I should think ! 
Here, Jasper, take his horse to the stable, and, 
Lewis, go with your cousin up stairs, and get him 
some dry clothes to put on. Some of yours will 
do, I guess ; at least they will do better than the 
wet ones. What a looking object you are, child !” 

Kent followed his cousin, but paused at the 
door to look back, and say, laughingly, with the 
air of a mendicant, 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFOBI). 


41 


Oh, Aunt Hetty, I liaveu^t had nothin’ to eat 
since yesterday mornin’.” 

I’m ever so glad to see you, old fellow !” said 
Lewis, affectionately, as he led the way to his room, 
but what did possess you to start such a day as 
this ? and how came Lio with you ?” 

I didn’t start such a day as this : I left home 
yesterday morning ; and Lio is with me because I 
have ridden him all the way.” 

“Left home yesterday? came all the way on 
horseback ?” repeated Lewis, in astonishment that 
increased at Kent’s explanation, until, in his in- 
terest, he forgot to add jacket or stockings to the 
other articles of apparel he had furnished, and 
Kent, equally forgetful, sat on the side of the bed 
in his shirt sleeves and bare feet, and talked on 
until Mrs. Mead called from the foot of the stairs, 
“ Come, come, boys ! Kent is too long in 
getting off that wet clothing ; he will take cold, I 
am afraid. He must come down stairs, and I will 
make him a good cup of boneset.” 

“ Boneset ! * ugh !” exclaimed Lewis, in disgust 
and commiseration. “You put on your jacket, 
Kent — oh, I forgot! I didn’t give you one; here it 
is — and I’ll go down and tell mother that you 
really haven’t had anything to eat since yesterday 


42 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFORD. 


morning. I guess she will give you coffee and 
some breakfast instead of boneset.^^ 

Mrs. Mead had great faith in herbs, however, 
and insisted that the tea should be swallowed 
first. Kent submitted, though with some wry 
faces, consoled by the warm breakfast that followed. 

The whole story of his journey had to be re- 
peated when his uncle came in to dinner. 

regular nest of Yauncees! It’s just like 
them !” said Mr. Mead, smiling at Kent’s descrip- 
tion of the hut. 

Where do you suppose they got all that fresh 
meat, uncle?” Kent asked, returning to a matter 
that had excited his wonder at the time. I should 
hardly think that any one would have given them 
so much.” 

Mr. Mead shook his head doubtfully. | 

I do not know how they got it. I know that 
oftentimes the farmers’ cows that wander off into 
the woods never come back, and that persons travel- > 
ing through there have come across skeletons and 
piles of bones. Many suspect that there is con- ^ 
siderable butchering done without any buying of j 
cattle. Still, we do not know that these people do ^ 
it, so it is only fair to give them the benefit of the j 
doubt.” \ 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFORD. 


43 


I say, Kent, it’s sort of exciting — almost as 
good as an account of hunters or Indians !” ex- 
claimed Lewis, whose love of adventure was some- 
times a source of anxiety to his father and mother, 
^^rd like to go out there some day just for the fun 
of the thing.” 

^^You wouldn’t need to stay more than one 
night to have the romance taken out of the affair,” 
laughed his cousin. I didn’t fancy it at all. The 
accommodations were anything but comfortable, 
and then,” coloring a little, as if his boyish pride 
was half ashamed of the admission, was not 
quite sure that my watch and horse might not 
tempt them to do me some harm.” 

Not much danger of that,” his uncle replied. 

The most of them are too cowardly and lazy to 
attempt anything desperate, even if they were other- 
wise disposed to do so. They content themselves 
with petty stealing, grand begging and a little sell- 
ing of willow baskets — the tribe, that is ; I don’t 
know anything about your particular family.” 

What a wretched life !” said Mrs. Mead, 
thoughtfully. Poor little Dan ! I am sorry for 
him — sorry for them all, indeed.” 

“ I suspect Kent didn’t feel very sorry for Sime 
after the way he acted,” said Lewis, laughing. 


44 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFOED. 


^^And yet/^ answered his father, with a grave 
smile, something very like Sime’s performanee is 
repeated every day in business circles, and people 
who pretend to be far above the poor Yauncee 
call it only shrewdness. 

Dinner over, the boys gathered in the kitchen, 
the large, old-fashioned, country kitchen, with its 
yellow-painted floor, its white, well-scoured table 
and rows of shining tins. Outside, the rain still 
fell steadily, plashing against the glas.s, forming 
little pools on the worn doorstone, and almost 
hiding with its misty veil the old barn and car- 
riage-house. Lewis, at the window, looked in vain 
for any sign of fair weather. The smoke beat 
resolutely downward, the forlorn group of poultry 
in the woodhouse door oiled their feathers most 
perseveringly, and the stately chanticleer who 
paraded back and forth before them crowed in his 
rainiest tones. 

Thicker and faster, harder and more of it ! 
Kent, I give it up said Lewis, turning away. 

Give what up asked the round-armed ’Tildy, 
who was vigorously washing out her dish towels. 

The weather,^^ answered Jasper. 

didn’t know as he’d ever been takin’ care 
of it,” said ’Tildy. 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFORD. 


45 


^^Oh, not the weather, but my prophecy about 
it, I mean,’’ exclaimed Lewis. thought it 

would clear up this afternoon.” 

'^Well, I don’t know whether the weather is 
goin’ to cle^r up or not, but I am,” responded 
’Tildy, giving a final snap to her towels and 
hanging them on their appointed nails by the 
chimney — ^^that is, if you boys will keep out of 
the kitchen long enough to give me a chance.” 

Lewis laughed. 

Let us go up to the attic,” said Jasper, throw- 
ing his arm over Kent’s shoulder ; “ nobody ever 
follows us there with soap and scrubbing-brushes.” 

“ Dear a me, what a clatter !” soliloq^uized ’Tildy 
as she heard them passing over the polished oak 
floor of the wide hall and up the stairs. ’Twas 
most too bad to turn ’em out of the kitchen, but 
there don’t seem no place pertic’larly intended for 
boys in the house, nor out of doors, neither, for 
that matter.” 

Mrs. Mead overheard the words with a smile that 
motherly anxiety changed into something like a 
sigh as she murmured to herself, ^^Ah, ’Tildy, I 
hope there are good, useful, honorable places in the 
world for my boys, and Kent too, dear fellow !” 

Certainly, if that old farmhouse attic was not 


46 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFOBD. 


particularly intended for boys/’ they had contrived 
to suit it to their purposes remarkably well. A 
wonderful place it was, with its walls decorated by 
bunches of dried roots and herbs, and its oddly- 
assorted furniture of chests, boxes, disabled chairs, 
crippled tables, old books and an antiquated spin- 
ning-wheel. Hither the boys were permitted to 
bear the treasures collected in their explorations 
by land and water, and carry on as best pleased 
them their many and varied experiments. It had 
always been the favorite resort of rainy days — a 
kingdom undisputed. Grand castles and fortresses 
had been built with those old books in the days 
gone by. Then, when such pleasures had been 
outgrown, one corner of the great room had been 
turned into a museum, where, upon shelves, not 
constructed by a master hand, indeed, but which 
the boys regarded with complacent satisfaction, 
were arranged the shells, curious stones, petrifac- 
tions and general oddities that they had gath- 
ered up. 

Lately, however, a workshop had been estab- 
lished in the opposite corner, and that, just now, 
was the chief attraction. Kent must be intro- 
duced to it, of course, and they spent no little 
time in talking over the miniature wheels, pulleys 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFORD. 


47 


and cranks, whose use any one save the boy-invent- 
ors would have found it hard to discover. 

Oh, I’d like to think out something great and 
useful, to be an inventor, wouldn’t you?” said 
Jasper, leaning his elbows upon the old chest be- 
fore him and resting his chin upon his hands. 

I’d like to be something answered Kent, 
earnestly, a sober look stealing over his face. 

A soldier, for instance. Here comes a cannon- 
ball now!” exclaimed Lewis, catching up a pillow 
from a box of bedclothing near him and throwing 
it at his cousin’s head. The compliment was 
speedily returned, and a brisk contest ensued, the 
pillows flying in every direction and the conversa- 
tion ending in a general frolic. 

The shouts of laughter attracted Yernie from 
the room below, and her sunny face and curly 
head appeared at the door just as Kent had thrown 
himself down with his head upon one of the spent 
cannon-balls, laughingly declaring himself out of 
breath. 

What are you doing ?” she questioned, after a 
brief survey of the battle-field. 

I am resting on my laurels,” said Kent. 

^^I think you are resting on one of mother’s 
pillows,” responded the matter-of-fact Yernie, 


48 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFOBD. 


and I don’t know what she would think if she 
should see them tossed about in that way.” 

Oh, she wouldn’t care for those old things !” 
said Jasper. ^^They make first-rate ammunition 
for a small army.” 

^^Oh, you are an army, are you?” asked Vernie, 
comically. “ Which of you was the cavalry ?” 
pointing to a well-worn saddle that hung over an 
old chest. 

Kent sat up, laughing. 

We used to consider that a capital horse, didn’t 
we. Lew? The old fellow looks as fresh as ever.” 

I’m going to see what he has been feeding on 
all this time. I shouldn’t wonder if he had eaten 
up that gold lace that I was looking for the other 
day,” said Vernie, and kneeling beside the old 
chest, she threw open the lid and began looking 
over its contents. 

‘^Here’s a fancy slipper for you, and here’s a 
pair of knee-buckles !” she continued, drawing out 
one article after another. ^^Oh, do look at this 
queer old bonnet ! What a picture any one must 
have made with such a looking thing as this on 
her head !” 

Presently she lifted up a bundle of yellow old 
papers, and turned them over curiously. 


CHIXKS OF CLANNYF6ED. 


49 


‘^1 wonder what they are?” she said; ^Hhey 
look as if they might be sermons.” 

Prosy old stuff, I suppose,” said her cousin, 
placing his pillow upon the box beside him and 
leaning his head upon it. 

But Vernie, after a moment’s closer examina- 
tion, exclaimed reprovingly, Oh, Kent, for shame ! 
They are sermons, and I do believe they are Uncle 
George’s.” 

Who is Uncle George?” asked Kent. 

‘‘Why, don’t you know — ” began Vernie, and 
then suddenly checked herself with a half com- 
passionate, “ Oh, I forgot !” and proceeded to ex- 
plain. “ He was our uncle, father’s brother, your 
mother’s brother, and he w^as a minister, but he 
did not live very long ; he was young when he died. 
Mother told me about him, and she said he did a 
great deal of good while he lived. I’d like to 
have heard him preach,” said the little girl, looking 
over the sermons almost reverently. “ Here is one 
with the text, ‘Ye are God’s husbandry. Ye are 
God’s building,’ and here is another, ‘Thine eyes 
shall see the King in his beauty ; they shall behold 
the land that is very far off.’ I wonder if it is so 
very far off?” said Vernie, dreamily. 

“Lewis! Jasper! I want you,” called Mrs. 

4 


50 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFORD, 


Mead from the hall below, and the boys ran down 
in obedience to the summons. Vernie was en- 
grossed in her researches, and the old attic was 
quiet. Kent lay still and closed his eyes, listening 
to the voices that were whispering in his heart, the 
thoughts his cousin’s words had awakened. 

He too wondered whether that unseen land 
where dwelt the King in his beauty was indeed 
very far off. It seemed so sometimes, and yet it 
was so near as to be pressing upon him on every 
side, reminding him of its existence at every turn, 
and in such unexpected ways and times, just as in 
these old sermons written long ago by the uncle he 
had never seen. His mother’s brother ! Kent 
remembered his mother. He was eight years old 
when his mother died, and every minute detail of 
that solemn hour was distinctly impressed upon 
his memory. Even now, to his closed eyes, the 
picture came back vividly. He saw again the 
darkened room, the sweet, pale face, the dimming 
eyes. He heard again the low voice in its last 
prayer for the beloved, for friends, husband, and 
then for her child, whose little trembling hand 
clung to hers ; This, my boy, my precious, only 
one, draw him to thyself, I pray thee, not after 
long years of sin, and wrong, and wandering, but 


i 

> 

\\ 

>! 


l! 




CHINKS OF CLANNYFORD. 


51 


early, O my Saviour, that he may work for thee, 
anywhere, everywhere, work for thee his life long, 
and come home at last bringing his sheaves with 
him^ 

Tears gathered under Kent’s closed lids as he 
remembered, and when Vernie, thinking he had 
fallen asleep, stole softly from the room, he was 
glad to be alone. 

^^Work for Jesus anywhere, everywhere.” Ko, 
he had never done anything at all for him. He 
had always meant, when he thought of his mother, 
to be a Christian some time, yet he had lived on, 
often gayly forgetful, sometimes with a vague dis- 
content and unrest, but seeking only his own 
pleasure still. A longing for something nobler 
and better awoke in his heart — had been growing 
there, indeed, longer than he knew — and its low 
whisperings grew into a clearer voice now. There 
was so much work to do in the world, this strange 
world holding so much of poverty, wretched- 
ness and sorrow in it. It seemed to him that he 
had thought more of that in the last two days than 
ever before. However like a pleasant dream life 
might be to him, it was hard, bitter reality to 
many around him. And he was doing nothing 
— nothing for God and his fellow-men. Well, 


62 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFOBI). 


it was not much that he could do now, but he 
was not even trying to do anything — not living 
the life to which his mother had consecrated him, 
doing nothing for that Saviour’s sake who had 
died that he might live, and through whose name 
alone he might ever enter the gates of that land. 

Kent thought long and deeply that afternoon, and 
when at last his thoughts formed themselves into 
prayer, it was very earnest in its briefness, very 
sincere in its resolve : O Lord, who hast given 
thy life for me, help me to give my life for thee ! 
Make me what my mother prayed for, what thou 
wouldst have me to be.” 

Doubtless a sainted mother rejoiced in heaven 
that day over an answered prayer, over the new 
life begun in that old attic room. 

Lewis’ entrance broke the stillness. 

‘‘Well, old fellow, are you awake yet?” 

Kent raised his head, smiling. 

“ I haven’t been asleep.” 

“ Haven’t ! Why didn’t you come down, then ? 
Vernie thought you had fallen asleep, tired out 
after last night, and mother told us to let you 
rest for a while. Well, come down now; it is 
clearing up splendidly.” 

“Come to the portico,” called Yernie from the 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFORD. 


53 


hall door as they went down stairs. Come and 
look at the beautiful rainbow 

‘ I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall 
be for a token of a covenant between me and the 
earth,’” repeated Farmer Mead, with the quiet earn- 
estness of one to whom such words and memories 
come naturally and lovingly. 





CHAPTER III. 


HE summer sun, coming up hot and bright, 
shone in at the open windows of a little 
house on the outskirts of Clannyford. There 
was scarcely air enough to move the limp, 
dingy white curtain which had been drawn partly 
back from the window. It was a morning to 
make one feel languid and uncomfortable at best, 
and the atmosphere of the small kitchen, with its 
heated stove, seemed almost stifling to the weary 
woman who moved about in it, now bending over 
the fire to stir the corn-meal into the kettle of boil- 
ing water, now spreading the table for the morning 
meal, and glancing longingly toward the window, 
occasionally, as if to catch the breath of cool air 
that did not come. Presently she opened the door 
into a little bedroom adjoining, and called : 

Susie ! Teddy ! come, get up now. IPs most 
time for Sam to come from the mill, and I called 
you a good while ago, too.’^ 

There was another bed in the room, but she did 
not try to arouse its occupant — a man who was 

54 



CHINKS OF CLANNYFORD. 


55 


sleeping heavily. She only directed the children’s 
attention toward him by a warning glance, and 
then withdrew, closing the door after her. She 
went to the open doorway of the kitchen and sat 
down upon the low steps, wiping the perspiration 
from her face with the dark apron she wore, and 
leaning her head wearily against the door-frame. 

A sad face hers was, tired and worn, with a 
hopeless look about it that was saddest of all. 
Her hair, carelessly brushed if at all, was drawn 
plainly back from her forehead, and her dress was 
considerably soiled as well as faded. Neither was 
the room which she had left in the best order that 
even its rude furnishing would allow. 

Perhaps perfect order and neatness among the 
very poor are found oftener in story-books than 
out of them. At least, it must require consider- 
able strength of mind and a brave heart to avoid 
growing careless and neglectful of many things 
while the daily struggle with care and poverty 
goes on and the burden of toil presses heavily. 
Mrs. Cresly was neither brave nor strong. Always 
far more willing to yield to the judgment of others 
than to trust her own, dependent and affectionate, 
she would have made a pleasant home for a loving 
husband. But she was ill fitted for such a life as 


56 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFOED. 


liers. The step that should have been firm beside 
her own grew into a drunken stagger, and the 
arm she had thought would be strong to lean upon 
was oftentimes worse than useless, and she could 
not be to her children father and mother both — 
could not be to them even the mother she might 
have been had they really had a father. They 
were scarcely “ brought up,^^ so far as her guidance 
and control were concerned ; they were allowed to 
come up.’’ She did what she could toward feed- 
ing and clothing them, but her braiii was not fertile 
in expedients and her heart had grown hopeless. 
Her more fortunate neighbors pitied her, but many 
blamed while they pitied, adding to their compas- 
sionate Poor creature !” the qualifying comment, 
Dreadful shiftless !” 

She looked tired and forlorn enough that sultry 
morning to make any one long to lighten her sad 
lot. The boy who came up the dusty road and in 
at the little gate thought so as he looked at her 
face, and unconsciously his voice took a softer tone 
than usual as he spoke ; 

^‘Well, mother?” 

The breakfast’s all ready, Sammy,” she said, 
quickly, as if to excuse herself for sitting down. 
I only came out ’cause it was so hot in there.” - 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFORD. 


67 


“Sit still, then/’ answered Sara; “I can help 
myself, I s’pose.” 

She arose and followed him in, however. It 
was far from being an inviting breakfast-table to 
which the boy carae. There was no cloth spread 
over the pine boards, and the few dishes were of 
various colors and patterns, and many of them 
much the worse for wear. A small plate of butter, 
reduced to an almost melting condition, stood in 
the 'centre of the table, a half loaf of dark-look- 
ing bread lay near it, and there was a cup of mo- 
lasses from which some flies had already attempted 
to breakfast, and in which they were at present 
stuck fast. The dish of “ raush,’^ or “ hasty pud- 
ding,’^ completed the bill of fare. Sam glanced at 
it, and sat down in silence. 

The children carae into the room, and, in obe- 
dience to their elder brother’s rather gruff sug- 
gestion, washed their faces before they hurried to 
the table. Sam glanced at the door of the adjoin- 
ing room and then at his mother. At length he 
asked, 

“ Asleep yet 

“Yes. ’Tain’t likely he’ll wake up till ’most 
noon.” 

“I hope not,” he answered, bitterly; “there’ll 


58 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFORD. 


be a little chance of peace as long as he isn’t 
awake.” 

Sammy,” said the mother, timidly, after a mo- 
ment or two of silence, have you any money left ? 
The meal is clear out, and we hain’t no potatoes, 
nor anything hardly.” 

Sam laid down his knife, and drew a twenty- 
five-cent piece from his pocket. 

That’s all I have; I gave you my wages 
Saturday.” 

know you did; ’twasn’t as much as usual, 
though, ’count of your stopping part of .two days.” 
She paused with a half-frightened look when the 
words were fairly spoken, as if she regretted the 
allusion. The father had been drinking those two 
days until he was so wild and violent that the poor 
wife did not dare to be left alone with him, and 
Sam had been obliged to remain at home, and as 
far as he could prevent his doing or receiving any 
harm. 

The boy’s brow darkened as she recalled the 
fact. 

^^The chances is good for such stops often, as 
near as I can see. I’ll lose my place by it yet.” 

The mother looked up at him in pitying help- 
lessness. 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFORD, 69 

Oh no, Sammy, I hope not,’’ she said, at last, 
in feeble attempt at encouragement. He’ll be 
over this turn now pretty soon, I guess, and then 
mebby he’ll go to work. I wouldn’t wonder if 
he’d work stiddy all next week.” 

Mebby he will, and the week after too,” as 
sented Sam, quietly, and then he’ll go on another 
spree, and it will be just the same thing over 
again. It ain’t no use to talk, mother, no use at 
all.” 

She knew it was not, and indeed she had noth- 
ing more to say. Presently the voice of the old 
factory-bell sounded on the still air. The boy 
swallowed his last mouthful of breakfast hastily, 
and catching up his hat, hurried away to the mill. 
The mother withdrew from the table almost as 
soon, though she had eaten but little, and went 
out and sat down in the doorway again. 

The children quarreled for a moment over the 
last of the molasses, then settled the matter by 
dividing it with scrupulous care, and when it was 
all disposed of, sought their mother. 

^‘How much did Sam give you?” asked Teddy, 
throwing himself down upon the floor beside her. 

^^This,” opening her hand and displaying the 
money. 


60 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFORD. 


What you goin’ to do with it 

I hardly know. The meal is out, and the 
potatoes too.’’ 

And the molasses,” suggested Susie. 

“ Yes, the molasses too. I s’pose as soon as 
your father gets ready to eat anything he’ll be 
wanting a bite of meat, and there ain’t any in the 
house.” 

Mr. Favisham don’t like trusting,” said Teddy, 
recalling the ungracious reception such requests 
had met. 

Oh dear ! I don’t know what to do !” responded 
the mother, drearily. 

‘^Just wait till I’m as big as Sam; I’ll work 
in the mill too, and then we’ll live, I guess!” 
remarked Ted, as if the waiting six or seven years 
were easily done. To his childish hopefulness the 
time did not seem very long. 

Mrs. Cresly turned the money slowly over in 
her hand. 

Well, we’ll just have to do without any meat 
or molasses till Sammy gets his wages Saturday. 
Teddy, you take this quarter up to Favisham’s 
and buy a shillin’s worth of meal and a shillin’s 
worth of potatoes with it. Borrow Bobby Daw- 
son’s little wagon, and then you can fetch ’em 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFORD. 


61 


home easy. Go quick, now, and mind you don’t 
lose the money, that’s a good boy.’*’ 

Favisham’s was nearly a mile away, and Teddy 
drew down his face, not quite sure that he fancied 
the walk that warm morning. It was only for a 
moment, however; then he laughed good-naturedly 
and held out his hand for the money. 

^^Let me go along and ride in the wagon, will 
you, Ted ?” petitioned Susie. 

Ted considered Susie’s company was, after all, 
something of an inducement, and so he answered : 

‘^You can go and ride some of the way if 
you’ll help me draw the wagon the rest of the 
time.” 

Well,” replied Susie, and donning her old calico 
sunbonnet, the two started off together. 

The mother watched them as they went down 
the road shoving their bare toes through the warm 
dry sand, and wondering how much all that was 
in the road would sell for if it were sugar instead 
of sand. There was no excuse for her sitting still 
any longer, and she arose slowly and went into the 
house again. 

At another house, farther down the street, a 
bright young wife who had just watched her hus- 
band until he was out of sight, off to his work, 


62 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFOBB. 


went merrily about her house, sweeping, dusting 
and arranging, and standing olF, now and then, 
to mark the effect, as she placed some article of 
furniture in a new position. A little farther dis- 
tant still. Aunt Gray was moving about in her neat 
cottage, looping back the white curtains from the 
windows, clipping the dead leaves from the vine 
at the doorway and arranging the vase of flowers 
on her little work-table. Very unlike the step of 
either of these housekeepers was that of Mrs. Cresly 
as she washed and put away in her almost empty 
cupboard the few cracked cups and plates that had 
furnished the breakfast-table. The cornmeal had 
become too thoroughly dried upon the sides of the 
kettle to yield readily to cold water, so the pot was 
filled with water and ^^put to soak’^ just outside 
the door. The room was brushed up a little, and 
then Mrs. Cresly, remembering that she had prom- 
ised to try and mend a hole in the sleeve of Sarn^s 
coat, hunted up needle and thread, and sat down by 
the door with the garment upon her lap. 

Her task was not more than half accomplished 
when the door of the little bed-room opened. She 
started at the sound, and the hand that held the 
needle trembled, but she turned with a smile, a 
faint one : 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFORV. 


63 


Well, Simon 

^^^Well, Simon P Should think ^twas *Well, 
Simon !’ S’pose you wouldn’t take the trouble to 
call a body to breakfast if they went ’thout any 
till noon !” answered the man, talking somewhat 
thickly and walking a little unsteadily even yet, 
from his last night’s debauch. 

I thought you wouldn’t want to be waked till 
you’d had your sleep out, so I didn’t rouse you,” 
she said, timidly. 

Well, I’ve had my sleep out, an’ now I want 
my breakfast. D’ye hear, Melindy ?” He brought 
his fist down heavily upon the table, with an at- 
tempt at making his words emphatic that would 
have been ludicrous had not its cause been so very, 
very sorrowful. 

No, whatever cause for mirth it might afford 
any others in the village to see the forlorn, ragged 
‘^Old Cresly” staggering along the street, it was 
the saddest of all earthly things to his wife and 
children. She, his wife, glancing up at him now, 
sighed a little, used as she was to the sight of his 
red, bloated face. 

“I’ll get you what there is,” she said, “but 
there ain’t anything but some bread and a little bit 
of butter.” 


64 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFOED. 


Ain’t there any meat?” he demanded. '^I’d 
like a bit of meat.” 

There ain’t any. I’m sorry, Simon, but there 
ain’t a bit in the house,” she answered, in a meek, 
apologizing way, as if she were to blame for the 
destitution. 

Yes, that’s the way ! You’re always ^ sorry,’ 
and you’re always ^ out,’ ” he responded, speaking 
truly enough, indeed. Gimme what you’ve got, 
then. Ain’t there no tea ? Let me have a cup of 
tea, at anyrate.” 

There was a little, and she had thought to keep 
it for Sam’s supper, but it must go now. She saw 
no help for it, so she prepared it, and placed it 
upon the table with the bread and butter. Her 
husband sat down to his breakfast, and she went 
back to the door, but she did not take up her sew- 
ing. Presently he asked : 

Where’s the young uns ?” 

‘‘ I sent ’em off a w'hile ago,” she answered, in- 
definitely, secretly hoping that they might not 
return with their scant store of provisions until he 
had gone out. 

He did not question any further, and was silent 
for a time. When he spoke again, it was in an 
altered tone. 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFORD. 


65 


Melindy, my dear, couldn’t.you let me have a 
little money ?’’ he said, coaxingly. 

I haven’t any, Simon,” she answered, glad that 
the twenty-five-cent piece was out of her pos- 
session. 

Hain’t got any ? What do you live on ?” he 
demanded, growing angry in a moment. 

Then followed a scene that, alas ! was not un- 
usual. He begged, commanded, threatened, to all 
of which she could return but the one answer — that 
she had no money. He searched the table-drawer, 
the cupboard, and finally her pocket, and went 
away at last, muttering angrily, and but half con- 
vinced that she was not deceiving him, and had 
not a few cents hidden away somewhere. 

She watched him from the window as he went 
slowly down the street, trembling lest he should 
meet the children and discover that they had been 
to Favisham’s with money to spend, fearing both 
for herself and for them. She took her seat in 
the doorway once more, and took up her sewing 
again, but her eyes wandered often from her work 
to glance anxiously down the street. 

Sam had gone to his work that morning with a 
heart bitter in its sadness — not that the state of 
affairs at home was any worse than usual that day, 

5 


66 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFORD. 


but the burden was growing harder to bear as he 
grew older. A feeling of humiliation and shame 
that he had not known when he was younger op- 
pressed him, and the hot blood came to his cheek 
when he heard any one speak in careless contempt 
of “ Drunken Simon,’’ or Old Cresly.” 

His miserable home, and the destitution of his 
poor, timid, worn-out mother and little brother and 
sister, weighed heavily upon him, and what could 
he, only a boy with boy’s wages, do for them? 
Ambitious voices awoke and whispered in his 
heart sometimes. He so longed for a fairer, better 
life for himself and for them, to be something dif- 
ferent, higher, and the future looked so hopeless. 
What chance was there, with this chain binding 
him down ? He was nothing — Old Cresly’s Sam,” 
that was all. The weeks were drearily alike as 
they went by. It was work all through the day, 
and home (to such a home !) at night, to eat and 
sleep — when they had money to buy anything to 
eat, and when his drunken father did not keep the 
house in such an uproar that they could not sleep. 

He thought it all over gloomily as he toiled 
steadily on. The long room with its row of soiled 
windows, its black floor worn smooth with the 
tread of many feet, its heavy iron arms rising and 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFORD. 


67 


falling and the great wheels moving on so cease- 
lessly, while amid all the roar and din of the pon- 
derous machinery human forms moved silently, 
each in its treadmill round, with faces dark with 
grime and dust, and hands working busily and 
patiently, — that was all the world there was for 
him ! 

In the course of the morning Mr. Crail, the 
superintendent, came in, and with him Kent Gra- 
ham. It was no uncommon thing for Kent to be 
there; he was often at Clannyford, and had a 
boyish fancy for visiting the mill. Sam had known 
him, liked him, indeed, through all the four years 
he had worked at the mill, yet it seemed an added 
drop of bitterness in his cup that he should come 
there that morning. It made his own life show 
darker still in contrast to this other. How cool 
and handsome he looked, standing there in his 
suit of fresh, white linen, carelessly twirling in his 
fingers the rose he had pulled from Aunt Gray’s 
bushes as he came out ! Sam took in the picture 
in one furtive glance ; he would not seem to look 
toward him. 

Kothing to him, all this hot, dirty work ain’t, 
only something to be looked at,” he muttered to 
himself. He’s nothing to do but just to study 


68 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFOBD. 


and have a good time, and make something of ' 
himself if there’s anything to make.” ; 

As Mr. Crail and his young companion passed j 
along through the room, Kent looked a little anx- 
iously toward his quondam friend. Sam, and Sam’s 'j 
insfenuitv and varied resources, had been the source ' 
of not a little of his enjoyment ever since he had ■ 
been old enough to visit Clannyford. Sam had ! 
whittled out bows and arrows for him, and set up j 
miniature water-wheels in the brook, while he 5 
looked on in admiration of his skill. Later, it i 
was Sam that had rowed the boat for him in his i 
excursions up the river in the, long summer even- j 
ings, and Sam that had given him his first lessons I 
in swimming. He had seen him less frequently ] 
during the last year, however, and he scarcely { 
knew how to speak to him now, remembering what 1 
had passed in the encounter by the roadside a few | 
weeks before. Something of Sam’s feeling toward jj 
him he dimly guessed, but he did not, could not, j 
wholly understand it or its cause, and after vainly 5 
waiting for him to look toward him, he passed | 
on. j 

In truth, Sam’s gloomy bitterness was not the | 
only thing that kept his face turned so steadfastly 1 
away; there was a tinge of shame in it, too, as I 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFOBD. 


69 


he recalled the words he had spoken at their last 
meeting. In his secret heart he knew that Kent 
was no more responsible than himself for the dif- 
ference in their lives, and not having such sad 
cause, had probably never given it the thought 
that he had. But he would not yield to this 
thought, and only repeated to himself, “ I don’t 
care, anyhow ; I wish he’d keep out of the way !” 

Sam looked after Kent as he passed on, speak- 
ing first to one and then to another, and receiving 
smiling welcome from all — from some for his own 
blithe boyish sake, from many, doubtless, because 
he was the son of Robert Graham, the owner of 
the mill. 

Once, in his interested watching of something 
going on before him, Kent stepped back into too 
close proximity to a dangerous piece of machinery. 
Mr. Grail turned toward him with a quick warn- 
ing gesture, and he changed his position. Sara 
started at the instant’s peril, but as it passed his 
train of dark rebellious thought went on : 

’T would have been an awful thing if he’d got 
killed ! ’Twouldn’t make much difference, though, 
if I should get drawed in there and smashed up 
some day. I’m nothing to nobody ; none of ’em 
would care much after ’twas all over. Don’t know 


70 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFOBH 


as I’d care much either, if ’twasn’t for mother and 
Sue. That would end it all, only I ain’t such a 
sneakin’ coward as to want to leave them alone, 
with nothing to eat, and father to scare their lives 
’most out ; no, I ain’t !” 

After a time the two went out, Mr. Crail to his 
office, and Kent to walk slowly up the hill and 
back to Mrs. Gray’s. The hours of the long day 
dragged wearily, but night came at last. The fac- 
tory-bell pealed out its edict of release, and suddenly 
the great wheels that had been rolling on as if in 
all the world there w^ere no such words as silence 
and rest trembled and stood still; the iron arms 
that all day had seemed reaching and grasping 
dropped quietly and asked nothing more ; the day’s 
work was done. There was a rush of many feet 
from the different rooms of the old mill. Eager 
hands doffed heavy, soiled aprons and paper caps, 
and donned hats and sunbonnets. Silent toncrues 
found their use again, and young voices rang out 
in laughter and merry words, as the groups passed 
down the stairs and into the open air. 

Sam walked homeward soberly and alone. Ted 
was swinging on the gate, and pushed it open wffien 
he saw his brother. 

‘^Father home?” Sam asked as he passed in — 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFORD. 


71 


a question scarcely necessary, for Teddy’s air of 
enjoyment told almost as plainly as his words : 

‘^No; he went away this mornin’, and hasn’t 
been back since.” 

There was some relief in that — a better chance 
for peace, at least. His mother looked up with 
her wan, uncertain smile as he entered. 

‘^Supper’s almost ready,” she said, as if that 
were the best cheer she could offer him. 

He sat down by the window, and little Susie 
stole to his side. 

^^Sam, we’re going to have fried potatoes for 
supper,” she said. Teddy and me got ’em up to 
Favisham’s, and pa didn’t see us bring ’em home ; 
he’s been gone away all day.” 

Yes, he went away pretty soon after breakfast, 
and hasn’t come back yet,” assented the mother 
as Sam glanced toward her. 

He won’t be likely to come back till ten or 
’leven o’clock to-night, then. So much the better,” 
muttered the boy. 

I saw Kent Graham to-day,” said Ted, coming 
in and flinging himself down upon the floor. 

When I’m a man, I mean to be rich, and have 
a horse like his, and have fried potatoes every 
day.” 


72 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFOBD. 


I don’t believe it,’’ said Susie, doubtfully ; do 
you, Sam ?” 

believe he’ll never be anybody but Ted 
Cresly, that’ll have to work for a living and eat 
what he can get,” he answered, shortly. It was 
strange, but even those childish air-castles seemed 
to vex him. 

No, I won’t, neither,” responded the undaunted 
Teddy, springing to his feet and making a rush 
toward the table as his mother announced that 
supper was ready. 1^11 have a horse. I’m going 
to ask Kent Graham what he paid for his.” 

Supper over, Sam took up his hat and went out. 
The little house seemed to him close and stifling; 
he wanted to be in the open air, and sauntered on 
down the hill to the river. It was a quiet, lonely 
place. He sat down upon the bank and leaned 
his head upon his hand. A long time he sat 
there, scarcely conscious of thinking at all, only 
enjoying the cool river breeze and gazing out on 
the water, seeing, heeding nothing else, until a 
footstep sounded just behind him, and as he turned, 
Kent Graham’s voice spoke : 

^^Why, Sam Cresly! I was just thinking of 
you. I saw our old skiff lying down there a few 
minutes ago, and I was thinking of the rides we 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFOBD. 73 

used to take in it. Don’t you want to go out a 
little while ? Perhaps it will be cooler out on the 
water.” 

Sam discovered nothing in voice or manner be- 
yond boyish eagerness for a sail, and though his 
first thought was a wish that he had been left 
alone, yet he did not feel quite like saying it again, 
as he had done by the roadside, especially as Kent 
seemed so entirely to have forgotten that. 

^^Well,” he answered, hesitating a little and 
then slowly arising from his seat, I don’t care.” 

All right ! come on, then,” responded Kent. 

They walked down the bank to the river’s edge, 
unfastened the boat, and Sam, taking the oars, 
pushed out. There was no growing dark that 
evening, for before the twilight faded the moon 
came up, and its soft light was glittering on the 
water as they glided over it. 

“Where shall we go?” asked Sam, in a tone 
that avowed his own indifference. 

“ To the bend,” Kent answered as briefly. 

If Sam had dreaded observation and questioning, 
he was disappointed ; his companion either shared 
his mood, or else understood and yielded to it, for 
he made no attempt at conversation and seemed 
thoroughly absorbed in watching the shifting light 


74 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFOEB. 


and shade on the sparkling ripples. Sam was left j 
to his musings, with nothing to disturb the quiet \ 
but the faint sounds borne from the land and the 
dash of his own oars. So silently a half hour . 
passed that he had almost forgotten that he was ' 
not alone, when Kent suddenly exclaimed, 

The rock ! the rock ! Take care, Sam ! you are ' 
running us on to Korl Rock 

Sam saw at a glance, and pushed out vigorously, 
but the warning had come none too soon, and it 
was with difficulty that the little boat cleared the ■ 
point. Tired with his sudden exertion, and vexed ! 
that he had so far forgotten his usual care and 
skill as to place himself in such a position, he re- , 
marked, not very amiably, as he took his seat again, 
^^You neednft be uneasy; I ainft a-going to 
drown you if I can help it.’^ 

I should hope not, nor yourself, either. There 
was quite as much danger for you as for me,’^ Kent i 
answered. ! 

^‘^T wouldn’t make much difference about me; i 
I’m no account,” said Sam, the thought of the 
day sliding into his words. Then he tried to 
hide its bitterness under a careless laugh as he : 
added : My life’s nothing to nobody.” 

Nothing to God?” Kent asked, quietly. He 



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CHINKS OF CLANNYFORD. 


75 


was leaning over the side of the boat with his 
hand in the water as he spoke. Sam did not 
answer, and when Kent looked up, he scarcely 
knew whether he had heard or not. 

But Sam had heard, for that night as he sat at 
home, while his mother talked of this, that and the 
other being out,” and sighed helplessly over their 
hard lot, he suddenly repeated the question : 

Mother, do you s’pose God cares anything 
about us ?” 

Oh yes, Sammy, I hope so,” she answered, in 
a startled, vague way. s’pose he does, when 
we’re good.” 

‘^But we ain’t good — I ain’t, anyhow,” per- 
sisted Sara. 

Well, I wish I was,” said the mother, weakly. 

But it seems as if there was always so much to 
be doing and worrying about that there wa’n’t no 
time for nothing else.” 

‘^Say, mother, when you was little, and didn’t 
have to work, was you good then ?” asked Teddy, 
not from any particular interest in the subject, but 
because of a natural propensity to ask questions. 

Suddenly there flashed before the mother’s faded 
eyes a vision of her careless, care-free girlhood — 
of the almost forgotten wealth of bright hopes and 


76 


CHINKS OF CLANNFFORD. 


dreams that had been hers then — and there was a i 
new pang of regret in the answer, given a little ! 
slowly and reluctantly : j 

No, Teddy, I can’t say as. I was ; I don’t know i 
as I thought much about it.” 

Teddy was satisfied, but she was not. The 
thought aroused would not be quieted at once, , 
and it was not altogether a comfortable guest. It • 
was much easier to think of herself as suffering ^ 
than as sinning — as one to be pitied instead of 
to be blamed. 

To Sara the unanswered question came back ’ 
more than once in those days of gloomy brooding ^ 
over his dark life. 

So the tiny seed was sown under softening ; 
showers of sorrow and warm sunshine of loving ' 
mercies, to spring up some day and bring forth j 
fruit. He who watched it knew. ' ! 



CHAPTER IV. 


PLEASANT room, not very large, but 
lofty, the green of its mossy carpet match- 
ed by the velvet of lounge and chairs, long 
cases of books filling two sides of the room 
and beautiful pictures gleaming upon the opposite 
walls, — this was the library of Graham Place. 

The long windows, looking upon the lawn, were 
thrown wide open. By one of them Mr. Graham 
was sitting book in hand. Kent was standing at 
another, too busy with a thought to be more than 
dreamily conscious of the beautiful view before 
him or the flower-perfumed air that floated in 
around him. 

Father,’^ he said, turning presently, his eye 
brightening with a quick suggestion that came 
to him. 

^^Well?’’ Mr. Graham laid down his book. 
Kent’s voice was always sure of attention. 

Bart says he wants some new flower-racks for 
the garden.” 

^‘Yes; I told him to get them.” 



78 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFOBD. 


I was just wondering whether Sam Cresly 
couldn’t make them,” said Kent. 

Who ?” asked Mr. Graham, wondering a little 
at Kent’s sudden interest in the gardener’s arrange- 
ments. 

Sam Cresly — out at the mill, you remember.” 

^^Oh yes; well, perhaps he could. What does 
he want with them ?” 

“ Nothing,” answered Kent, laughing. I was 
only thinking that perhaps he could make ours. 
He is pretty ingenious, and has a fancy for whit- 
tling and carving a good many things. I believe 
he could make some nice ones.” 

‘^And if he could, it would be quite as cheap 
and more convenient to get them here in town.” 

Yes, sir, I know,” said Kent, earnestly ; but 
then if Sam could do it, I’d like to have him get 
the money. He is the only one there is to do 
anything for the family : his father drinks, you 
know. I think he has a pretty hard time of it ; 
Aunt Gray says so. He could do this in the even- 
ings when he is out of the mill. It is a kind of 
work that he would like, and I think he would be 
glad to earn the money, though he wouldn’t want 
anybody to give it to him.” 

‘^He is none the worse for that feeling,” 


com- 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFOBD. 


79 


mented Mr. Graham. “ But, Kent, Bart is very 
fastidious about liis frames and trellises; I don^t 
know what he will say to trusting an amateur to 
make them.” 

Oh, I can soon persuade him to be willing if 
you are,” Kent said, starting up to go and talk the 
' matter over with Bart at once. 

Tell him that if he does not like them when 
they are done, he can have them made in town 
afterward,” said Mr. Graham, and Kent’s bright 
face looked back his thanks. 

' Bart was, as he had said, easily-persuaded, and 
obtaining from him as minute a description as pos- 
sible of what he wished and the price he should 
expect to pay for such articles, the boy noted it 
carefully down, and when he next went to Clanny- 
I ford sought Sam eagerly. 

Nevertheless, when he found him at evening 
sitting on the low doorstep at home, he broached 
the subject very cautiously. If we are ever en- 
tirely disinterested and unselfish, it is, perhaps, 
when trying to benefit another without that other’s 
knowledge, or even against his will, concealing 
the conferring of a favor under the appearance of 
receiving one, and well content, when all is done, 
to give instead of receive thanks. Kent felt very 


80 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFORB. 


certain that any other kind of help than that which 
would enable Sam to help himself it would be 
worse than useless to offer, and though that know- 
ledge increased his respect for the boy, it also in- 
creased his difficulty in doing anything to comfort 
or assist him, and made him very careful that his 
present proposition should bear the form of a re- 
quest instead of an offer. 

Fortunately for his purpose, Sam was busy with 
his ever-ready knife when he found him, whittling 
a shingle into something or nothing, he himself 
could hardly have told which, for his thoughts 
were busy with other matters. Kent sat down 
beside him, and watched him for a few moments 
silently. 

“ What are you making he asked, at last. 

Why — I don’t know.” Sam held up the stick 
and viewed it as if that were a question that 
had not occurred to him before. Nothing, I 
guess.” 

It looks a little like one of the boats that you 
used to make for me,” Kent suggested. 

Sam laughed a little. 

Well, I s’pose I can make it into one ; it’ll do 
' for Ted. I’m almost always whittling when I 
have nothing else to do.” 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFOFD. 


81 


You always had a fancy for that sort of thing,’’ 
said Kent, appreciatively. Sam, don’t you sup- 
pose you could make some flower-racks? — some- 
thing neat and pretty for vines to run over, you 
know ? Bart, our gardener, was saying the other 
day that he wanted new ones, and I thought that 
you, perhaps, could make some for us. Father 
told me I might ask you about it the next time I 
saw you.” 

Sam dropped his shingle and looked up. He 
was interested, but he only said, 

I don’t know whether I could or not. Any 
how, I haven’t much time, and your folks wouldn’t 
want to wait for ’em.” 

^^Oh, there is no hurry about it,” Kent an- 
swered. I only thought that perhaps you could 
do it in the evenings.” 

Maybe I could. But, then, like as not, they 
wouldn’t like ’em after they were done.” 

^^Oh, I can show you pretty nearly what is 
wanted, for that matter; Bart told me. Look 
here.” Kent picked up a scrap of paper, and 
taking a pencil from his pocket, outlined the de- 
sired shape. ‘^Something after that fashion, you 
see, only you can make them a great deal prettier, 
and they need not be all just alike, of course. 


82 CHINKS OF CLANNYFORD. 

Bart wants ten or a dozen of them, and lie says 
they are worth about two dollars apiece/^ 

Sam’s face brightened as he studied the little 
sketch and asked a few questions about it. He 
w^as pleased v/ith the proposition, though he only 
said at last, 

‘^Well, I can try it, anyhow; there isn’t any 
harm in doing that.” 

wish you would,” Kent answered, simply, 
but he too was pleased, and departed presently 
well satisfied with his success. 

Later that evening, sitting in Aunt Gray’s little 
parlor, he told her about it. 

I am very, very glad,” she said, in her earnest, 
interested way. They need the money badly, no 
doubt, but even more useful still will be the work 
itself to Sam. It will be something to call out his 
ingenuity and stop his brooding so steadily over 
home troubles. My heart has ached to see the 
weary, discouraged look the boy has ^vorn lately. 
I am very glad you thought of this.” 

But she did not tell him what was also true — 
that she w^as more glad for his sake, even, than for 
Sam’s, that she thought to himself would come 
equal if not the greater benefit. ^ He that w^ater- 
eth shall himself be watered,” and wLile she knew 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFORD. 


83 


that it would be better for Sam to have his thoughts 
drawn from useless repining to useful working, she 
also knew that Kent would be the better for for- 
getting his own pleasure and enjoyment in caring, 
working, thinking, for others. Eeady to give he 
had always been, but she longed to see him living 
and working for something above and beyond him- 
self, and she was glad that this case which had 
excited his sympathy was one that called for plan- 
ning, thought and care. 

After all, I can’t do much for hira,^’ said the 
boy, thoughtfully. ^^He is so queer, or proud, 
or something of the sort, that it is hard helping 
him.^^ 

‘^Ah, Kent,’^ said the old lady, smiling, ^^ac- 
ceptable helping is one of the fine arts — one that 
is w’ell worth studying too, though each one must 
do it for himself, since no one can teach it. In- 
juries may fall like hailstones, but kindness must 
come gently as the dew, or it is worthless. There 
are some who seem to think that when a needy 
neighborhood is discovered, all that is necessary 
is to plant the cannon of benevolence upon a 
neighboring hill and fire an indiscriminate volley 
upon the place. They have little idea of the effects 
of such benefactions.’^ 


84 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFORD. 


Cold pieces, soup-tickets and old clothes/^ 
laughed Kent. 

^‘Yes; some are helped, no doubt, but a great 
many are wounded. Humanity is humanity, 
whether it is rich or poor, and those who are 
worthy of help are generally worthy of considera- 
tion too.” 

Yet those people are trying to do good,” said 
Kent, thoughtfully. 

^^True, and in so much are better than those 
who are not trying at all, but it is a pity that 
they do not find some better way of doing what 
they have to do.” 

Kent, who was sitting by the window, suddenly 
arose and went to the door as a wagon passed. 
He watched it until it was out of sight, then 
looked back into the room again. 

Why, aunty, that was Tim Nolan, and he had 
been drinking until he could hardly keep his seat 
in the wagon. I fancy he was going home more 
because the horse knew the way than because of 
his driving.” 

“Very likely; he has come home in the same 
condition twice before this month,” she answered, 
slowly. I am afraid he will lose his place.” 

^ He will have no one but himself to blame for 


f 

CHINKS OF CLANNYFOEF. 85 

it if he does/’ replied Kent, with something of 
indignation in his tone. I suppose there are 
plenty of good sober men that would be glad of 
the place too.” 

Mrs. Gray said nothing. She was thinking, 
perhaps, that the case had another side to be 
thought of. 

Kent, having judged from one point of view, 
was suddenly brought to another the next morn- 
ing. It was a beautiful morning, the air pure 
and clear, the flowers all laughing through their 
dewy tears and the birds singing their merriest 
song, with its self-complacent little interlude, 
^‘Hear me! hear me!” It all suited well the 
care-free, boyish heart, and Kent started gayly on 
his morning walk, almost forgetting that so lovely 
a world could hold any care or sorrow in it, until 
at a little garden gate a downcast face met him. 
Tim Nolan, with folded arms resting upon the 
fence, stood looking over into the sandy road be- 
yond, seeming deeply interested in studying the 
soil, and with something very like a tear in his 
eye as he looked — Tim Nolan, who was usually 
the most merry, careless, contented fellow in the 
whole place. 

He raised his head as he saw who was ap- 


86 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFOBD. 


proaching, and tried to speak in his old rollick- 
ing way. 

Ah, thin, Masther Kint Graham, isn’t this the 
fine day? Sure, it’s gintlemen of leisure like you 
an’ me that can injoy it, intirely.” ' 

Kent laughed. 

But how does it happen that you are ^ a gen- 
tleman of leisure’ to-day, Tim?” he asked. In 
an instant after he remembered the scene of the 
previous evening, and regretted his question, guess- 
ing its answer. 

Why, thin, didn’t Mr. Grail get so indepind- 
ent of me sarvices as to till me he could get along 
widout ’em? Shure he did! An’ I wouldn’t be 
stayin’ where I wasn’t wanted, would I now, 
Maggie?” turning to his wife, who had arranged 
her tubs under the shade of a tree, and was wash- 
ing out of doors to save bringing disorder into her 
neat little rooms. 

She looked up with a faint smile that was very 
unlike the usually cheery Maggie who went singing 
about her work. Two little twin girls were play- 
ing near her. Kent had often been amused at 
hearing them talk, the one always so gravely re- 
peated the remarks of the other, but they seemed 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFORD.' 87 

to have caught the mother^s mood, and were 
strangely silent this morning. 

Tim ’was not satisfied. It was not so easy to 
pretend that losing his place was no great misfor- 
tune, while Maggie looked so troubled. He tried 
again, forcing a laugh : 

It’s worryin’ about the wages she is. But 
ye needn’t be botherin’, Maggie darlint. Isn’t it 
variety as is the spice o’ life ? I’ll be doin’ some- 
thing else, I tell ye, and bringin’ in plenty more 
pay.” 

I don’t know where you’ll go, Tim, nor what 
it is you’ll be doin’, an’ there’s the childer to be 
fed. It’s meself don’t know what will come of 
us,” she answered, sadly. 

Tim laughed again. 

Ah, thin, just hear the woman ! Isn’t the 
world big enough, an’ plenty room in it for the 
likes of us ? Sure, we’ll go w’here they’ll be wantin’ 
us more, an’ glad to get us. The childer? An’ 
won’t it be them that’ll dress so fine in the few 
months that you won’t be knowin’ ’em, an’ have 
the fine manners that Queen Victory and Prisident 
Jackson’ll be sendin’ afther the pattern ? It’s 
some fine town we’ll go to.” 

It’ll no be the pretty place like this, I’m thinkin’, 


88 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFORD. 


wid the bit of garden an’ the grass for the childer 
to play.” Maggie’s eyes filled with tears as she 
glanced about the little home she had worked so 
hard to make pleasant. 

Tim looked after her as she passed into the 
house, and then suddenly dropping his affected 
gayety, he turned to his boy-listener with a burst 
of sorrowful confidence. 

^^It’s meself’ll not be worryin’ what else isn’t in 
the new place, so there’s no dramshops there,” he 
said. ^^It’s that as brings all the trouble an’ 
worry, Masther Kint, and makes a dacent man 
into a baste, intirely. I drive the milt team to 
Maltby ivery day, cornin’ an’ goin’ right by 
Favisham’s. I’ll say to meself in the mornin’, 
^Now, Tim Nolan, me boy, ye’ll be a man for 
Maggie’s sake and the childcr’s, and kape clear of 
the murtherin’ stuff,’ and off I goes, brave an’ de- 
termined. Mebby I’ll go straight by for a wake 
or two, an’ thin some windy day his ould sign — 
bad luck to it! — will crake in the wind like it was 
callin’, ^Come in and take a drap,’ or it’ll be a 
warm day, an’ I’ll hear the glasses a-jinglin’ so 
cool inside, an’ thin it’s all over wid me. I goes 
in, an’ there’s nothin’ worth spakin’ of comes out. 
Misther Crail, he rages, an’ Maggie cries, but it’s 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFORD. 


89 


Tim Nolan as is sorrier than botli of ’em, an’ jist 
kapes doin’ it over ag’in. Now it’s lost me place 
altogether I have, an’ not knowin’ what to do 
next.” 

am very sorry, Tim,” said Kent, sincerely. 

I can’t see why people want to keep such places 
as that of Favisham’s.” 

Ye may well be wonderin’ that, bringin’ plenty 
of men into trouble that would be glad to kape 
out, they are !” 

Kent did not say to the troubled, discouraged 
Tim that he had nobody but himself to blame;” 
indeed. He did not even think it then, in his pity. 
The reflected shadow of Tim’s face lingered upon 
his own as he turned away. He did not know of 
any way in which he could help him, yet he kept 
thinking of him, and of Maggie’s grief at leaving 
her home. Going down to the mill, he saw Tim’s 
Avagon ready for starting off with a new driver. 
Mr. Grail stood near it, giving some parting di- 
rections as it moved away. Kent approached 
him. 

Wasn’t that the wagon Tim Nolan drove? 
You have sent him away, haven’t you?” he asked. 

“ The drinking scamp ! Yes, and I ought to 
have done it long ago. He was not fit to be trusted 


90 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFORD. 


with a team at all ; would do very well for several 
weeks sometimes, and then, perhaps, take one load 
and never come back for another the whole day, 
keeping the horses away too, while he took a 
regular spree.’^ 

I don’t believe he would have done it if it 
hadn’t been for driving past Favisham’s all the 
time ; that was a steady temptation.” 

I don’t believe Tim Nolan will drink when he 
can’t get anything to drink,” answered Mr. Crail, 
coolly, ^^and I don’t think he will be very likely 
to stop until then.” 

I am sorry for his wife,” said Kent, wishing 
Mr. Crail had seen and heard just what he had. 

It’s a pity he don’t care enough about her to 
try and behave himself. He might have kept his 
place well enough, for we needed him. I had to 
take a man from the mill to drive in his place this 
morning.” 

Kent’s face brightened with a quick thought. 

Will he keep the' place ? does he like it ?” he 
asked. 

He likes it well enough, but it makes no dif- 
ference about his keeping the place ; I shall have 
to engage some one for the mill if he does, and for 
driver if he does not.” 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFORD. 


91 


was thinking if Tim could only take his 
place in the mill — said Kent, hesitatingly. 

Mr. Crail turned and looked at him a little 
curiously, then he laughed. 

Kent, my boy, you would make a capital over- 
seer! Just apply to your father for the position 
when you are a few years older. The idea of dis- 
charging refractory employes out of one situation 
into another until you find something to suit them 
is novel.” 

Kent laughed too, and colored slightly ; never- 
theless he adhered to his point. 

^^But if Tim were in the mill, he wouldn’t be 
very likely to drink ; he would not have the 
chance. Could not he take that man’s place ?” 

I’m not quite sure what you mean by ^ couldn’t 
he?”’ said Mr. Crail, still half laughing. ^Mf it 
is Tim’s ability to do the work, yes, for he has 
been in the mill before, but if it is my willingness 
to let him, no, for I won’t have such a worthless 
fellow about.” Then, as he saw the boy’s sober 
face, he added, ^^It’s a waste of pity, Kent; he 
isn’t worth it.” 

Perhaps not, but I’m afraid he will drink 
worse when he hasn’t anything to do, and I can’t 
help being sorry for his wife if they have to go 


92 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFOBD. 


away from that little place ; she has been working 
so hard to fix it up/^ 

That may all be, but as I am not responsible 
for Tim Nolan’s morals or his wife’s happiness, 
but only for having the mill work done faithfully, 
it does not affect the question any, you see.” 

Kent did not see, only that it was useless say- 
ing anything more, so he turned away. When he 
told Aunt Gray the story of the morning, she 
simply answered, 

I thought of all that last night.” 

Mr. Grail smiled to himself when Kent had left 
him alone. 

A real boyish idea, that ! Give the fellow a 
place out of pity for his wife and babies, and try to 
keep him sober and take care of him when he 
won’t take care of himself. Just about such a 
fancy as Martha would be likely to take into her 
head ! I hope she won’t see Tim Nolan, or hear 
anything about him. Such tender-hearted notions 
may do very well for her or a boy like Kent, but 
they would not manage the work of the world very 
well, and I should have my hands full if I at- 
tempted to carry them out. Any man that has not 
sense enough to keep sober must leave; that is all 
there is of it !” 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFOBD. 


93 


Yet when he passed Tim Nolan’s that evening, 
he looked more closely than usual at the little 
house and garden and fence — perhaps to see what 
it was that Mrs. Nolan would be so sorry to leave. 
The two little girls were out at the gate, and seeing 
him glance toward the house. Miss Mitty remarked, 
defiantly, 

Don’t like you, I don’t! You made mammy 
cry !” 

^^You made mammy cry. Don’t like you I” 
echoed Kitty. 

Mr. Crail pretended not to hear the voices of 
the twins, but he muttered impatiently to liimself, 
as he passed on. 

That’s just the way in this world I No worth- 
less rascal can get his deserts without making some 
woman cry !” 

In Mr. Grail’s home there were but two — his 
sister Martha and himself. Neatness itself the 
house was, but very quiet; there was nothing to 
chase away a troubled thought that had crept in. 
So it happened that, as they sat down to the tea- 
table with its two lonely sides, he repeated the 
remark, partly to himself and partly to her, 
though he did not mean to tell her anything about 
Tim Nolan: 


94 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFORD. 


It is strange that no miserable scamp can get 
his deserts without making some woman cry V’ 

^^It is well that it is so/’ said Miss Martha, 
quietly. 

think it is a great nuisance,” her brother 
said, vexed by the answer. 

“Because,” she went on without heeding the 
interruption, “we do not know ho'W often Hea- 
ven’s justice is delayed in the case of some of 
these ^miserable scamps,’ as you call them, be- 
cause of some woman’s pleading cry — how often 
the wanderer is reclaimed because some w’oman’s 
heart would break if he were lost.” 

That was a view of the case he had not taken ; 
higher than an earthly view Mr. Crail did not 
take of any subject. “ All that sort of thing was 
W'dl enough, but he didn’t believe much in it — 
had nothing to do with it, in fact — yet he did not 
see but he got along just^as well for all that,” he 
was accustomed to say, when any one spoke to him 
of Christian life and duties. Now a quick sug- 
gestion forced its way into his heart : what if his 
life were blessed by the God he would not ac- 
knowledge in answer to Martha’s prayers? — his 
proud head shielded because “ some woman would 
cry ” ? AVas he standing, after all, on Tim Nolan’s 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFOED. 


95 


platform ? That thought was too unwelcome to be 
cherished for a moment. “ Nonsense ! I don’t be- 
lieve it !” he said. 

Martha looked grieved ; she thought he had 
spoken in answer to her remark. He saw the 
look, but was not willing to explain what he had 
meant, and so was silent. He did believe what she 
had said — ay, and deeper than his own denial, he 
believed that whispered thought too. 

I don’t know why you should doubt it,” she 
said, after a moment’s pause, ^Svhen he would 
have spared a whole guilty city for the sake of 
five innocent righteous if they had been found 
there.” 

^Mf she had known the whole history of that 
drunken fellow, she could not have argued his 
case much better,” thought Mr. Crail, half im- 
patiently, half wonderingly. She would pity 
him, I suppose.” 

He did not think that he felt any pity for 
him himself — not even the next morning, when 
he saw his desponding look as he passed him 
on his way to the mill. He passed by with a 
cool nod at first, then hesitated, and finally turned 
back. 

Tim,” he said, suddenly. 


96 CHINKS OF CLANNYFOBD. 

Tim raised his head half sullenly. 

One of the mill men is driving your team ; 
if you have a mind to take his place in the mill 
for a few days, you can do it.^^ 

“Thankee, sir; sure. I’ll be cornin’,” Tim an- 
swered, simply, but a bright look flashed over his 
face. It meant more than “a few days” if he did 
well, he knew, and he turned and went into the 
house to tell Maggie the good news. 

Mr. Grail walked on. He had not known that 
he had been bearing a burden until he felt that 
he had lost one by the enjoyment of that free, 
long breath. 

“Ah! you, is it?” he said, in his half-curt, 
half-kindly way, as Kent Graham overtook him. 
“ AYell, I have given your precious object of charity 
a place in the mill again, and now, if you have 
any influence with him, do try to make him be- 
have himself.” 

“ Have you ? Oh, thank you ! I will,” ex- 
claimed Kent, rather disconnectedly, but very joy- 
ously ; “ I am very glad !” 

“ Humph I you are ? Well, it isn’t likely that it 
will last very long. The probability is that when 
he gets his money Saturday night, he will get 
thirsty too, and going up to Favisham’s to buy 


CHICKS OF CLANNYFORB. 


97 


groceries, will buy something else that ’will make 
him not fit for work on Monday/^ 

It was a denouement by no means improbable, 
and Kent’s bright face sobered as he walked on- 
ward toward the wood. The more we do for 
others, the more interested in them we become, 
arid Kent, who two days before cared very little 
about Tim Kolan, felt a deep interest now in his 
struggles and temptations, and was anxious for his 
success. Sitting alone under the drooping trees, 
his brain was filled with plans for helping the 
poor tempted one to keep away from evil, mingled 
with some vague dreams of the influence he would 
wield, and the stern battle he would wage against 
the power of this great wrong, when he became 
a man. So, while, unconsciously to himself, the 
boy’s heart was growing larger and more tender, 
broader and quicker in his sympathies, he was 
also learning by contact and actual observation 
a deeper abhorrence of a great evil and a keener 
pity for its victims than books or lectures could 
have taught him. 

Mr. Grail’s predictions were not verified for the 
next Saturday night, at least. Maggie Nolan’s 
bright black eyes were open and vigilant, and 
after anxiously watching her husband for a time, 
t 


98 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFOBD. 


while he made his preparations for starting to the 
grocery, she finally ventured to say : 

^^Tim dear, if ye wouldn’t mind stayin’ home 
a bit wid the childer, an’ puttin’ on the kettle 
when it’s time, it’s meself could go to Favisham’s 
an’ bring the things. Sure, I know Teddy Cresly 
would go an’ help me, an’ jist stayin’ in the house 
all day, it’s mebby the walk would be doin’ me 
good, I’m thinkin’.” 

More likely it would, Maggie,” answered Tim, 
with a twinkle in his eye; anyhow, it wouldn’t be 
doin’ ye hurt, an’ that’s more an’ can be said of 
some of yer acquaintances, me jewel, so just you 
go. Put the kettle on, is it? Indade, an’ I will, 
an’ make the tay besides, so fine, intirely, that ye’ll 
niver be able to drink yer own makin’ after once 
ye have a taste of it. It’s good housekeepers me 
an’ the childer will make ; so be off wid ye !” 

Maggie went, and came back with light, free 
step, though with heavy basket, and when Mon- 
day morning came, Tim was ready to go to his 
work soberly and faithfully. 


CHAPTER V. 


HE long summer twilight had faded, and 
Sam Cresly, who had been for the last two 
hours busy at the bench he had erected in 
one corner of the yard, could no longer see 
to work, and began slowly gathering up tools and 
pieces of wood to carry them into the house. The 
last of his flower frames would soon be done now. 
He was almost sorry that it was so, they had fur- 
nished him pleasant employment so many evenings, 
kept his thoughts busy and called into exercise his 
taste and ingenuity. Teddy and Susie had watched 
the daily growing into shape of the different pat- 
terns with great delight, and even his mother had 
awakened into some interest and admiration. 

TheyTe just real pretty, Sammy — pretty enough 
for anybody’s garden. I didn’t know you was so 
handy,” she had said. 

And then they had had a talk — pleasanter than 
their home talks usually were — of what should 
be bought with the money those would bring. 

Twenty-four dollars would be no small addition 

99 



100 


CHINKS OF CLAXNYFOED. 


to their cramped treasury. It was extra money, 
too, earned by extra work, and should not go to 
Favisham’s for groceries ; they could purchase some 
other things with it — things long needed. Sam re- 
membered that evening talk well, for it had given 
him almost his first dream of what a home it was 
possible even his might be under different circum- 
stances. His mother had been sitting beside him 
in the low doorway, Teddy in his favorite position 
on the floor and Susie near by. The children’s 
eager voices had joined in the planning now and 
then, and their extravagant ideas of what could 
be purchased with the money that seemed to them 
such a great sum brought a faint smile even to the 
mother’s pale lips, and aroused her into something 
like animation and cheerfulness for a few minutes. 
But the work, its object and what he expected 
from it Sam had kept a secret from his father; 
it was not safe to trust him with it. He was 
thinking of it this evening — that something pleas- 
ant would be gone out of his life when this work 
was done. There would be no more planning for 
or looking forward to anything then, outside the 
old dreary routine. 

The quick opening and shutting of the garden 
gate made him pause, his arms full of the pieces 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFORD. 


101 


of wood he had just gathered up, and turning, he 
saw a man pass quickly up the walk and knock 
at the door. He started forward, and the stranger 
saw him, and had turned toward him when Mrs. 
Cresly opened the door. 

nothing, ma’am — I — that is — it was Sam 
I wanted to see,” he stammered out, in a quick, 
confused way. didn’t see he was in the yard 
until I knocked and he sprang off the steps and 
hurried toward him. 

Sam recognized him as a man he had sometimes 
seen about the mill, and oftener in the neighboring 
village about the store, and wondered what had 
brought him there. 

Well,” he said, interrogatively, what’s want- 
ing ?” 

But the stranger did not find it easy to make 
his errand known ; he spoke hesitatingly. 

Why, the fact is — Well, it was an accident 
up at Favisham’s, and your father, you know — 
They sent me to tell you.” 

‘^What about him?” asked the boy, gruffly 
enough, but with a strange feeling at his heart and 
suddenly dropping the armful he held. 

Bun over by the train,” said the man, slowly. 
'^’Twas at the railroad-crossing, and he wasn’t 


102 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFORI). 


over-steady, I s’pose, and maybe he didn’t notice. 
Anyway, ’twas him, and he was killed in a min- 
ute. I couldn’t just say it all sudden to your 
mother, but — ” 

Sam glanced at the doorway. His mother stood 
there still, and she had heard, not all, but some- 
thing — enough to make her pale face whiter still, 
and to change the usually dull, hopeless expression 
of her eyes to a startled, agonized look. When she 
caught Sam’s glance, her voice rang out, unlike 
itself in its quick, sharp tone ; 

Sammy, what is it ?” 

The stranger started when he heard it, and as 
Sam went toward her he slowly followed. 

“What did he say, Sammy? What was it 
about your father?” she asked again, but without 
looking at him, her eyes fixed instead upon the 
one who had brought the tidings. 

“ Tell her,” said Sam, briefly. 

The man hesitated and cast a troubled look from 
mother to son. 

“ He was on the railroad-crossing when the cars 
came along, and didn’t see them, and he w^as — 
hurt.” 

“ Killed,” Sam said, slowly, as if trying to com- 
prehend the word. His mother took it up. 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFOEB. 


103 


Killed ! dead She sank down trembling 
and covered her face with her hands. 

The shock was dreadful — the thought of that 
sudden, awful death, terrible. But it was not the 
heavy stroke of bereavement that they felt — how 
could it be ? The knife which removes a painful 
tumor may, indeed, cut as sharply as that which 
takes off a precious right arm, but when all is over, 
the one has occasioned a bitter, lifelong loss, while 
the other has but wrought a deliverance ; however 
cruel the pang, remembered even with shuddering, 
yet a deliverance still. 

Sam folded his arms and leaned back against 
the house, silent after that one word. The chil- 
dren came to the door and looked first at him, 
then at their mother, then at the stranger. The 
man lingered uneasily for a few minutes, then he 
whispered to Sam : 

I must go now. You’d better go along to fix 
things up and say what you w^ant done, hadn’t 
you ? They told me to come for you. Send for 
some of the neighbors to stay with your mother.” 

But the tidings had already been carried to other 
homes, and Maggie Nolan was even then coming 
in the gate. 

I’m going along with him, mother,” said Sam, 


104 ' CHINKS OF OLANNYFOBD, 

^^Mrs. Nolan will stay here, I guess?’’ with a ques- 
tioning glance toward the kindly little neighbor. 

Sure, I will, poor dear !” was the answer, given 
pityingly. 

The walk was a silent one. The stranger, glad 
that the unwelcome errand he had undertaken Avas 
so nearly accomplished, and that the one dread fact 
had been made known, volunteered no further 
information, but hurried his companion forward, 
and the boy asked no questions. The lamps Avere 
lighted when they reached Favisham’s, but there 
were not as many in the store as often gathered 
there at eA^ening. At the little station beyond 
quite a croAvd had collected on the long platform, 
gathered in little groups and talking Ioav. On a 
long Avooden bench at the farther end of the plat- 
form something Avas lying — a motionless form co\^- 
ered Avith a white sheet that some merciful hand 
had throAvn ov^er it. When the boy and his com- 
panion approached, there AA’as a moment’s pause 
and silence among the talkers. Some one took up 
a lantern, led the AA^ay to the still figure and lifted 
the coA^ering. 

Oh, it Avas horrible ! Sam turned aAvay, sick and 
shuddering, after one glance, Avalked to a little dis- 
tance and sat doAvn. They gathered about him 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFORD. 


105 


then with a few explanations, questions and sug- 
gestions. There was little more to be told than he 
knew already. His father had been at Favisham’s 
all the afternoon and had started home at evening, 
in what condition, there was no need to tell. Some 
one at the station, seeing the approaching train, 
called to him as he reached the crossing, but he 
did not heed — did not hear, perhaps — and staggered 
on. The warning call was repeated, and then 
seeming suddenly to awaken to a sense of his dan- 
ger, he attempted to quicken his unsteady steps, 
stumbled and fell, and in another instant was be- 
yond the reach of all earthly aid. 

The necessary arrangements were soon made, but 
the moon was shining down upon the old road, 
making its sand seem like grains of silver, when 
the party passed slowly over it with their burden. 
Neighbors had gathered in the little house, and 
kind hearts and willing hands had been at work to 
make the place look neat and orderly as far as 
was possible with the poor materials at command. 
The wife so lately widowed sat a little apart, quite 
silent save as some one spoke to her, trying to 
realize what this was that had come to her and 
mourning most of all that she could not mourn. 
Her thoughts wandered back over the past, all she 


106 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFORD. 


had hoped, all she had been disappointed in, all 
she had borne. Bitterness, fear and blame died 
away now in a great solemn pity as, instead of the 
reeling figure that was wont to stagger in, there 
was borne this motionless form. 

The two children looked on awed and frightened, 
but not grieved, and there being no one to pay 
any attention to them, stole away to a distant cor- 
ner to discuss the event by themselves. 

“Oh, it^s awful to be dead, ain’t it?” said Susie, 
with a little shudder. 

“Yes,” answered Teddy, opening and shutting 
his little brown hand, and trying to discover what 
it was that made it move and that would stop its 
moving by and by, imagining, child-fashion, how 
it would seem to be cold and still. 

“ Annie Clark cried like everything when her 
pa died,” pursued Susie, meditatively. “Teddy, 
are you sorry ?” lowering her voice to a whisper. 

“ I don’t know,” answered Teddy, slowly ; “ only, 
he won’t never strike us any more, and we won’t 
have to stay round out doors at night when we’re 
sleepy ’cause we’re afraid to come in an’ go to bed, 
an’ we won’t ever have to watch when w^e go up to 
Favisham’s after meal, to keep him from seein’ us 
an’ takin’ the money away.” 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFORD. 


107 


answered Susie; guess Tra almost 
glad, if ma didn’t look so.” 

Shocking? Aye, it was shocking — and most 
shocking in that it was true ! A father’s death 
brought relief. 

The little cottage wore an air of unwonted quiet 
and order the next afternoon. The old curtains, 
freshly done up, were drawn before the open win- 
dows, fluttering a little, as if conscious of their 
improved appearance, as the summer breeze stole 
in. Teddy and Susie, washed and dressed in 
clothing that skillful fingers had made clean and 
whole for them, presented an unusually neat ap- 
pearance. The mother, too, in the plain black 
dress that had been provided for the occasion, 
looked better than he ever remembered to have 
seen her before, Sam thought, and found himself 
wondering how much it would cost to keep her 
and the children looking alw^ays as well as they 
did then. 

Presently the people began to gather in, two and 
three at a time, until the room was filled and many 
were standing outside around the door and win- 
dows. Soon a little stir and turning of heads 
among those in the doorway told that the minister 
expected from the city had arrived. They moved 


108 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFOED. 


aside to let him pass, and he took his station in the 
centre of the room. 

What could he say above that coffin ? It may 
be that he asked himself the question as he looked 
down upon it very sadly. There could be no 
triumphant, death, where is thy sting no 
sweet, “ He giveth his beloved sleep no precious 
benediction, Blessed are the dead that die in the 
Lord.’^ He spoke of the bright river of the water 
of life flowing from the central throne; of the 
‘^many mansions’’ away beyond sin, and sorrow, 
and death ; of the fair country whose glory eye 
hath not seen, ear hath not heard, neither hath it 
entered into the heart of man to conceive. He 
spoke of Him who is the resurrection and the life, 
in whom, believing, none can ever die ; of the full 
and free invitation, Whosoever will, let him 
come;” of the rich and countless promises ^Ho 
him that overcometh,” the new name, the white 
raiment, the morning star, the throne. But he 
spoke to the living, not of the dead, and the silence 
was terrible in its significance. Some words of 
'warning he uttered, too, solemn and tender, but 
few, for the coffined form before him was in itself 
a more impressive warning than human lips could 
breathe. 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFOBD. 


109 


Sam sat, with head bowed upon his hands, listen- 
ing, thinking as he had never thought before, and 
ere the words were ended the question that had 
been lingering in his heart through those weeks 
was answered. His life was something to God. 
Whatever he might be to the world, before the 
Maker and the King of all he stood even as others 
— a precious, priceless soul. He did not yet know 
what to do with the knowledge, he made no resolu- 
tions then, but the thought was born and would not 
die. 

The hymn, sad and low, the fervent, solemn 
prayer, were ended, and out from the low doorway, 
along the pleasant street, to the quiet, lonely little 
graveyard, they bore the dead. The sunlight fell 
as brightly into the open grave as upon the grass- 
grown mounds around it, yet many a tearful eye 
turned from it to them with a deep breath of thank- 
fulness that they were not like this. The dear old 
words, sweet and strong in all their rich depth of 
meaning — In hope of a glorious resurrection — 
no one repeated there as they turned away and left 
the sleeper to his sleep. 

When the evening fell again, the little family at 
the cottage were once more alone. The countless 
kindly offices suggested by warm hearts had been 


110 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFOBB. 


performed, and those who had been passing in and 
out, planning, assisting and directing, all day, 
had departed to their own homes. Ted and Susie, 
awed and subdued somewhat by the events of the 
day, and almost equally, perhaps, by the unwonted 
order of the house and their own neat apparel, sat 
quietly by one of the windows talking to each 
other in low tones. The mother, in an old chair 
by the opposite window, was rocking slowly to and 
fro, and Sam, watching both her and the children, 
was silently thinking. No added necessity for labor, 
no new responsibility, had fallen upon the boy, and 
yet he felt in some way, that night, as if the family, 
from belonging to another, had suddenly become 
his own. There had been no one but him to do 
for them before, yet they had never seemed so en- 
tirely and rightfully his to work for and care for 
as now, and he found himself forming countless 
plans for something better than the old life for 
them and for himself. 

That same evening Miss Crail, walking up the 
street with slow and thoughtful step, paused at 
Mrs. Gray’s. Welcome there she always was — it 
would have been strange if those two had not been 
friends — so she dropped easily into her favorite 
seat by the window like one quite at home. 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFOBD. 


Ill 


Mrs. Gray/^ she said, we must have a Sun- 
day-school here.” 

Mrs. Gray laid down her knitting, and turning 
to her visitor, replied : 

My dear, I’m very glad to hear you say so. 
I have been thinking for a long time that we 
ought to have one, but if you say must, that is 
one step farther ahead. It is a stronger word, and, 
I trust, a more hopeful one.” 

Miss Grail laughed a little at her own earnest- 
ness. 

I did not think what word I was using,” she 
said, and the matter presented itself to me more 
in the light of a necessity than a duty, I believe.” 
She paused a moment, picked up the old-fashioned 
fan that lay beside her, and the deep seriousness 
came back to her face again as she explained : 

‘^What is to become of these Clannyford chil- 
dren ? I could not help thinking about it to-day, 
looking up from that grave and seeing so many of 
them gathered there. Are they to be left to live 
such miserable lives as his ? Many of them have 
almost no home training, so far as anything good 
is concerned, and they are thrown in the way of 
temptation from the very first. Nearly all the 
groceries used by the mill families come from Fav- 


112 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFORD. 


isham’s, and the children are sent there of errands 
as soon as they can be trusted to go alone. They 
grow accustomed to the place, the language and the 
company, and learn to like it early, and to be in 
no hurry to come away ; they get into a habit of 
loitering about and listening to what is going on 
among the older ones. Then on Sunday — Well, 
since the new schoolhouse has been finished, we 
have had one service there regularly every Sabbath, 
but that occupies but a small part of the time. The 
men wander off to Favisham’s — I know some of 
them do not go to church at all, but even some who • 
do, go to Favisham’s afterward — and the boys do ’ 
the same. If they had some other place to go, i 
something better to do, it might help to keep the 
children at least out of danger.^^ 

^^And the instruction given may make them 
stronger to battle with temptation when they must 
meet it,’^ Mrs. Gray replied. Yes, you are right; 
we need a Sabbath-school.’’ 

And can we have it, do you think ?” Miss Grail 
asked. 

Mrs. Gray smiled. 

^^You said ^must’ at first. It is a good word 
for its place ; do not go back from it.” ; 

There are six or seven who would do for f 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFOBD. 


113 


teachers, I think, said Miss Crail, thoughtfally. 

Would do,^ in both senses of the word, I mean 
— ability and willingness — and who would gladly 
help to carry out the plan, if we propose itf’ 

Mrs. Gray noticed that little word ^^we,’’ and 
answered it somewhat sadly : 

^^Ah, my dear, whatever I can do, I will do 
heartily, but I am not young any longer, nor very 
strong, and the heaviest of this burden will fall 
upon you, I fear.’’ 

Stronger in her weakness than many of us are 
in our strength,” Miss Crail thought. She simply 
answered : I know,” but her glance said how 

well she knew the extent and worth of her friend’s 
efforts, counsel and advice in such a cause. 

I want you to tell me I am right,” she said, 
and then I am ready to go ahead.” 

You are right, my dear. God speed you,” an- 
swered the old lady, earnestly. 

Having determined. Miss Crail was not one to 
delay acting, and the next day found her busy 
among the people. No young girl, moved by a 
sudden impulse of girlish enthusiasm, was she, but 
a woman, earnest, patient and brave, whose firm 
step was yet a very quiet one — learned, it may be, 
in the dark valley of shadows whither she had 

8 


114 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFORD. 


been called to go down with one after another of 
her beloved. Her clear voice had grown softer and 
lower than it once had been, and her eyes, looking 
kindly and charitably upon the world, looked also 
beyond it. 

She had little difficulty in obtaining the parents’ 
consent that their children should attend the school 
Some were pleased, some indifferent, but good-na- 
turedly compliant, and a few, who might have op- 
posed the plan itself, assented with seeming grace, 
influenced by the fact that Miss Crail was sister to 
the superintendent of the mill. 

Willing to let the childer go? indade, an^ I 
am, ma’am !” answered rosy-cheeked, bright-eyed 
Maggie Nolan, gratified at the attention bestowed 
upon her and hers. Hitty an’ Mitty shall go, an’ 
Mikey too, if he was only a bit bigger,” catching 
up the baby from the floor. 

The lady turned away laughing, and meeting 
Sam Cresly near the gate, stopped to ask him about 
Ted and Susie. Would they like to come, did he 
think ? and would he like to have them ? 

There was kindness and rare tact in the act and 
in those few words. The presence of the children 
might, indeed, have been secured without it, but 
many lessons in the school might have failed to do 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFORD. 


115 


them as much good as that frank acknowledgment 
of his right to be consulted and the courteous 
asking of his opinion had done Sam. It increased 
his sense of responsibility and proprietoi'ship in the 
family, and brought an added feeling of self-respect 
too. His answer, though given rather shyly and 
hesitatingly, had in it nothing of the carelessness or 
bitterness that he might have felt a few weeks 
before. 

Yes, ma’am ; they hain’t nothing to do at home 
on Sundays, and I expect they’d like it ; they can 
come well enough and it will be good for them. 
I’ll tell mother about it.” 

He walked on, thinking the matter over all the 
way home, and so, by the time he reached there 
and told Miss Grail’s proposition, he was ready to 
add : 

^^I told her I guessed they’d come — anyhow, 
they’d better ; a chance to learn something and be 
somebody ain’t to be throwed away.” 

Yes, but what’ll they wear?” said Mrs. Cresly, 
despondingly. There’s them things that was fixed 
up for ’em yesterday, but they’re old and thin, and 
won’t do to wear more’n three or four times before 
they’ll be all out.” 

^‘Then they must have some new ones,” said 


116 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFOMI). 


Sam. They aiiiT going ragged ; they’re going to 
look like other folks’ children.” 

Jolly!” ejaculated Master Ted, while his 
mother looked up in astonishment at such a novel 
proposition. 

There’s the frames,” continued Sam. ^M’ll 
have ’em done pretty soon, and then you can get 
something new for the children.” 

new dress! Oh, ma! oh, Sam! A new 
pink dress, will you ?” exclaimed Susie, her black 
eyes dancing with delight. Oh, Teddy ! won’t it 
be nice ?” 

How can I tell when I hain’t seen it ?” queried 
Ted, provokingly practical. ^^Am I goin’ to have 
a new jacket too, Sam ?” 

Sam did not like to show how pleased he was 
with their pleasure, so he made some inquiry con- 
cerning the prospects for supper, and strolled away 
out of doors again. 

No long sermon on his duties as an elder brother 
would have appealed so directly and powerfully to 
Sam as Miss Grail’s few words had done. So her 
school in its embryo had already begun, though 
indirectly, its blessed lessons— teachings which she 
only dimly guessed when, among the group that 
gathered that first Sunday in the schoolhouse, she 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFOED, 


117 


recognized the young Creslys. They were clean 
and neat, and brightly awake to all that was said 
and done, and at the close little Susie slipped her 
hand into Miss Craiks and whispered in a sudden 
burst of confidence : 

^^WeTe coming all the time, Teddy and me. 
Sam wants us to, and ma said we might, ’cause 
Sam means to get us new clothes to come with. 
He said so.” 



CHAPTER VI. 


LITTLE head surmounted by a ragged 
cap was pressed close against Mrs. Gray’s 
garden fence, and a pair of bright black 
eyes peering in between the pickets took a 
long and wistful survey of the place. Presently a 
small brown hand was thrust in and a cluster of 
beautiful crimson flowers drawn out, though with- 
out severing them from the stem. The little fin- 
gers passed over them with admiring but careful 
touch, examining curiously leaf and blossom, and 
shaking the dew from out the tiny cups. Then 
they were pushed back again, and a white lily 
growing near by drawn out instead. Other flow- 
ers were growing beyond, but they were out of 
reach, and satisfied at last with his limited obser- 
vations, the owner of the busy fingers allowed the 
white bell to sway back to its place. He climbed 
upon the fence then and unfastened the gate, and 
soon the bare feet were pattering up the walk. 

Want to buy any wilier baskets ?” said a child- 
ish voice on the portico. 

118 



CHINKS OF CLANNYFOED. 


119 


Mrs. Gray dropped her sewing, startled a little 
by a voice so near, when she had not seen any one 
approaching, and went to the open door. 

No — I don’t know,” she said, the first in an- 
swer to the question, the second because of the 
questioner, for the light willow baskets extended 
toward her were common enough to be met with 
anywhere, but not so the one who carried them. 

It was a boy of some six years, ragged and dirty, 
presenting an appearance half comical, half forlorn, 
in the old garments, far too large for him, which 
he wore. But the sunbrowned face had a certain 
childish beauty of its own, and the large dark eyes 
lifted to the lady’s face were such as few could 
meet unkindly — certainly not Mrs. Gray. She 
took one of the baskets and examined it, saying, 
Avith a smile : 

Why, you are a little fellow to be out selling 
baskets alone !” 

Used to be ; guess I’m pretty big now,” an- 
swered the child, looking down at his feet and then 
slowly raising his eyes, as if trying to estimate his 
own height. 

How much do you ask for these ?” 

Fifteen cents for the little un and twenty cents 
for t’other.” 


120 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFOBD. 


^^And suppose I buy one of them, what will 
you do with so much money she asked, laugh- 
ingly. 

“ Carry it to maum,’’ he answered, gravely and 
honestly. 

She took one of the baskets and paid him the i 
price he had named. He drew an old stocking foot : 
from his pocket, slipped the change down into it 
and tied it tightly with a piece of string, then with 
a triumphant air replaced it in his pocket. The 
lady watched him, amused and interested. 

Where does your mother live?’^ she asked. | 

Who V’ The black eyes looked a little bewil- | 

dered. Maum ? Oh, she lives out a piece in the j 

woods. We didn’t al’ays; corned here t’other j 
day, a while ago.” : 

And where did you come from ?” \ 

Dunno ; good ways off*.” , 

In a wagon, or cars ?” she questioned, think- • 
ing that perhaps she might learn from what direc- 
tion they had come. 

The child’s eyes opened wider still. 

Tramped,” he answered, laconically. ; 

Mrs. Gray took up her sewing again, but the ' 
little fellow still lingered near the open door, 
glancing wistfully up and down the vine-shaded \ 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFORD. 


121 


portico and out into the pretty garden. Noticing 
it, she said, 

Are you tired? Sit down there in the portico 
and rest a while, if you want to,” 

He availed himself of the permission without a 
word, and leaning his head back against the door- 
frame, stretched out his brown, dusty little feet 
contentedly. A kindly thought prompted the old 
lady to lay down her work a second time, and 
going out into her tidy kitchen, she presently re- 
turned with a large slice of bread and butter so 
generously spread with jam as to suit any juvenile 
taste and prove a rare delicacy to this poor little 
waif, who accepted it eagerly. 

You did not tell me your name,” she said, 
pleasantly. 

Name’s Dan.” 

^^And your father? — have you a father?” she 
asked. 

Dan devoured several mouthfuls of the bread 
and butter without replying, and then he said. 

Feller axed me that once. Dunno. What’s a 
father ?” 

She looked at the child in astonishment. Then 
a possible explanation suggested itself, and almost 
unconsciously she spoke it aloud : 


122 


CniNKS OF CLANNYFORD. 


Perhaps he is dead 

S’pose so/^ answered Dan, composedly. Joe’s 
dead ; dunno where Pipe is.” 

And who came with you here ?” 

Nobody ; corned myself.” 

‘‘But when you came to this place to live, I 
mean ? — when you came from a great way olf ?” 

“ Oh, granny, an’ Bill, an’ maum, an’ Moll, an’ 
Sime, an’ me.” 

“And are Bill, Sime and Moll your brothers 
and sister ?” 

“Yes, guess so,” the child answered, rather 
slowly and doubtfully. 

It was useless trying to learn anything about 
his family. Mrs. Gray abandoned the attempt, 
discouraged, but with her interest in the boy deep- 
ened by his seeming to know so little to whom he 
belonged, or even the meaning of the names that 
should have been dearest. 

“ You don’t know how to make these baskets, 
do you ?” she asked, after a few minutes. 

“No; maum an’ Moll makes ’em.” He hesi- 
tated a little, then looked up at her curiously, and 
asked a question in return : 

“ Did you make the pretty red an’ w^hite things 
grow out there ?” pointing to the flowers. 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFORD. 


123 


I planted the seed ; God made them grow.” 

No comprehending light flashed into the dark 
eyes, and watching his face, she proceeded : 

God made everything — the birds, and trees, and 
flowers, and sky. You knew that, didn^t you ?” 

1 diinno,” replied the little one, in a wonder- 
ing, bewildered way. 

Didn’t you know who made you ?” 

Why, nobody !” he answered, in astonishment. 
“I’m folks.” 

“ But folks are made. God made every one.” 

She said the words slowly and reverently, and 
then was silent, wondering what she could say 
next, and how she could best teach him and make 
him understand. But she had time for nothing 
more. He started from his seat and gathered up 
his baskets. 

“Maum’ll be mad if I don’t hurry,” he said, 
and in a moment he was gone. 

So the one truth, at once so simple and so grand, 
was left to stand alone for the time in his childish 
thought, if indeed he thought of it at all. Mrs. 
Gray wondered, as she watched the little oddly- 
arrayed figure pass down the street, whether the 
child had apprehended or would recall the thought, 
and she determined to see him again, and, if pos- 


124 CHINKS OF CLANNYFOBD. 

sible, learn something about him and those to 
whom he belonged. 

There were more difficulties in the way of carry- 
ing out her resolution, however, than she had at 
first thought. The little basket merchant’s visit 
was followed by several days of rain, and when 
the sun again shone out clear and bright enough to 
allow her to make any explorations in the out- 
skirts of the village, her efforts were fruitless. 
^‘Live out a piece in the woods,” was all the in- 
formation the child had given her, and that was 
not very definite in a country so thickly wooded 
as that about Clannyford. She did not know in 
what direction to go, and she began to think that 
what had seemed a ^‘ little piece” to Dan’s bare 
feet, accustomed to tramping,” would be far too 
long a journey for her, and that, indeed, they 
could not have erected a cabin very near the vil- 
lage without some one having noticed or known 
about them. None of her neighbors could furnish 
any information,- though a number* of them had 
seen the child, and at some of the houses a girl, 
almost a woman, had called afterward, offering the 
same kind of baskets for sale. 

‘^I’ll tell you, Mrs. Gray,” said Mrs. Clark, 
laughing; ^^ask Teddy Cresly about it. What 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFORD. 


125 


that young one doesn’t know about anything of 
that sort, it would be little use for either of us 
to try to find out. He wanders about everywhere, 
and if there is any strange set of folks living near 
by, it’s likely he knows it.” 

Mrs. Gray accepted her advice and questioned 
the boy, though cautiously, when she next saw 
liini. She did not wish to intimate that there was 
anything peculiar or unusual about the strangers, 
or direct any attention to the little wanderer that 
might subject him to teasing and annoyance, and 
perhaps drive him away altogether, so she made 
a simple inquiry : 

Do you know any people living anywhere near 
Glannyford who make willow baskets, Teddy ?” 

No’m ; I seen a girl sellin’ some two or three 
days ago. Does she live round here ?” 

do not know; not very far away, I think,” 
she replied. 

I wish I knowed where ! I’d like to see how 
they make ’em,” said Teddy, with a look in his 
eyes that told his curiosity had been excited, and 
that it was very probable he would ^^know where” 
before long. 

Nearly two weeks passed away without Mrs. 
Gray’s seeing or hearing anything of the child 


126 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFORD. 


that had so interested her, and she had in a 
measure forgotten him when one afternoon he 
suddenly made his appearance again. 

^‘Why, Dan! is it you?^^ she exclaimed, glan- 
cing at the open door as a shadow fell across her 
work. 

Yes, it’s me,” answered the little one, waiting 
for no invitation to be seated, but throwing him- 
self down upon the portico. 

^^And where are your baskets?” she asked, no- 
ticing that he had none with him. 

Sime’s sellin’ ’em this time.” 

And what are you doing ?” 

Gettin’ old clo’es an’ cold pieces. Got any ?” 
he replied, as if his occupation were the most 
natural in the world. 

She glanced at the miserable garments he wore, 
her pity for and interest in the boy growing deeper. 
At last she said, slowly, as though her thoughts 
had wandered back to the past and it was not 
quite easy to recall them and speak the words. 

Would you like to have some good whole 
clothes that would fit you and make you look 
nice and clean, Dan ?” 

“Yes,” answered Dan, not as though he felt 
any great need of the articles mentioned, however. 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFORD. 


127 


^'And have your face and hands washed, and 
your hair brushed continued the lady. 

^^Yes,’^ answered Dan again, but rather more 
doubtfully. 

She went up stairs to a drawer long locked — 
how long, her heart knew to a month and day — 
and from among the articles folded away there 
she selected a suit of boy^s clothing dark and 
serviceable. Others, too fine in fabric or in fash- 
ioning to suit her purpose, were carefully replaced, 
and over those which she had taken her fingers 
lingered with a slow, caressing touch, as if there 
were something of sacrifice and pain in what she 
was about to do. 

Yet she did not hesitate, and so, after consider- 
able patient effort and perseverance on her part, 
and some patient endurance on his, the trans- 
formation was effected, and the little ragged, dirty 
Dan presented himself thoroughly washed and 
combed, and neatly and comfortably dressed. His 
face, bright from its introduction to soap and water, 
looked quite handsome, and the satisfaction with 
which he viewed his own changed appearance was 
unbounded. He sat upon the portico quietly and 
soberly for some time, surveying himself with 
grave admiration. At last he remarked ; 


128 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFORD. 


^^Sime’ll be -mad/’ 

AYhy ?” Mrs. Gray asked. 

’Cause he hain’t got none.” 

Is Sime larger than you ?” 

^^Yes; he’s big. Sells baskets an’ gets cold 
pieces ; so does Moll. I liked what you give 
me to eat t’other day,” he added. 

“ Did you ?” Mrs. Gray smiled, and taking the 
hint, produced the wished-for lunch. 

Dan divided it with scrupulous care, and laid 
half down beside him while he ate the other 
half. 

Don’t you want it all ?” Mrs. Gray asked. 

The child looked up at her as if such a question 
were absurd. 

That’s for Sime. He’s mad when I don’t save 
him none ; he said he’d lick me if I didn’t.” 

Is Sime cross to you ?” 

When I don’t save him nothin’ an’ he’s mad,” 
answered the little fellow, in a matter-of-course way, 
as if that were all that could be expected under 
such circumstances. 

Mrs. Gray hesitated a moment between her dis- 
inclination to yield anything to the elder boy’s 
tyranny and meanness and her desire to shield 
her little favorite, then she said : 


CBINKS OF CLANNYFORD. 


129 


You can eat it all ; I will give you some for 
Sime before you go/^ 

The boy eagerly availed himself of the offer. 
She watched him silently for a little while, and 
then she asked : 

Do you remember what I told you, the other 
day when you were here, about who it is that makes 
everything 

Yes.’' He looked up brightly. I told Sime, 
an’ he said he knowed it.” 

He had remembered, then, and thought some- 
thing about it ! The loving, Christian heart took 
courage. 

‘^Did He make all them out there for you?” 
asked the child, presently, glancing into the garden 
admiringly, as he had done at first. 

Yes, everything — green grass, trees and 
flowers.” 

Did you see ’em made ?” he questioned, earn- 
estly. 

She tried to explain to him as simply and clearly 
as possible how the flowers grew, nurtured by sun, 
and dew, and rain, and who cared for them and all 
that makes the world so beautiful. Then she told 
him something of the still lovelier world be- 
yond, unseen as yet, but made by the same hand ; 


130 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFOFD. 


of those for whom it is prepared, and the way 
thither. 

He sat very quietly, his head thrown back and 
his eyes wandering over the garden, listening ap- 
parently, but saying nothing, and she could not 
tell how much he comprehended. By and by he 
started up suddenly. 

There^s Sime 

She looked toward the gate, and saw leaning 
against it a boy who must have been sixteen or 
seventeen years of age — a tall, lank figure shab- 
bily clothed, and with an air and attitude that told 
their own story of indolence and uselessness. 

And that great boy makes you divide whatever 
is given to you with him she exclaimed, involun- 
tarily, in her first feeling of indignation. 

He’ll be mad if I hain’t got nothin’,” said the 
child, with an anxious look, as if to remind her of 
her promise. 

She fulfilled it, though not as willingly as she 
had provided something for the little boy himself, 
and the child hurried down the walk. She watched 
him until he joined his companion and they started 
off together. 

She had not learned where they lived, but Teddy 
Cresly soon discovered the whereabouts of their 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFORD. 


131 


cabin, and visited it. Mrs. Clark had been very 
nearly right in what she had said about Teddy — he 
was an arrant young explorer, so far as the woods 
about Clannyford were concerned. No one knew 
better than he where the sweetest strawberries and 
largest blackberries grew ; where the most plentiful 
supply of nuts could be gathered and the freshest 
evergreens found. If hoarhound, slippery-elra or 
golden seal were needed for the treatment of any 
cold or ailment, he knew where to find them, and 
more than one bright piece of silver he had become 
the possessor of in reward for such services. Per- 
haps his love of wandering about had arisen, in 
part, from his having so unpleasant a home in 
which to stay — from which, indeed, he had often 
been driven by his fathers drunken fury. How- 
ever that might be, he had learned to love the wood, 
and often roamed through it for hours alone. Hav- 
ing learned that the basket-makers resided, or were 
supposed to reside, somewhere in the vicinity of 
the village, he could not rest until he had found 
them. That done, he presented himself at Mrs. 
Gray^s one day. 

^^IVe found them basket-folks. Miss Gray, I 
have,’^ he announced, a little triumphantly. 

Well, where do they live?’’ she asked. 


132 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFORD. 


out in the • woods. ’Tain’t very near, no 
how; it’s as much as a mile’n a half away.” 

^^No other house near it?” 

No’m ; that ain’t a house neither — nothin’ but 
a shanty they made themselves, with holes cut in 
the boards for winders. I could build as good a 
one as that myself,” said Teddy. There wasn’t 
nothin’ much inside of it — only the folks, an’ a 
bench, an’ a kittle.” 

^^Why, did you go in?” asked Mrs. Gray, 
amused. 

^^Yes’m; I wanted to find out how they made 
them baskets, an’ I seen ’em do it. After a while 
that big feller — Sime — he come round and told me 
I’d better git out, so I come away. He’s a good 
deal bigger’n me, you know,” Teddy said, as if 
apologizing for taking his leave so hastily. 

Mrs. Gray laughed. 

He was not very polite,” she said. But, after 
all, Teddy, you might not like to have a stranger 
come into your house, you know, to watch what 
you were doing.” 

Teddy laughed too, good-naturedly. 

I wouldn’t care. Guess Sam wouldn’t have 
’em round, though ; I didn’t think of that,” he an- 
swered. 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFORD, 133 

Mrs. Gray never visited the cabin — it was too 
far for Iier — but Miss Crail went. Her interest in 
little Dan had been so awakened that she deter- 
mined to know something of those by whom he was 
surrounded and tlie manner in which they were 
living. An order for a large basket which she 
wished made furnished her with an errand, but 
the visit was not very satisfactory. She could 
learn but little about them ; and the prospect of 
materially benefiting them seemed small, as they 
evidently preferred their idle, vagabond life to any 
other. 

^^They are real Yauncees,’’ she said to Mrs. 
Gray, afterward. scarcely know how they 

came away here by themselves, there is usually 
such a tribe of them together.^’ 

However it was that they had come, they seemed 
content to remain for a while, and during the 
summer and fall little Dan, and even Sime and 
Moll, became well known in Clannyford. Miss 
Crail succeeded, after a time, in securing the little 
one’s attendance at Sabbath-school — granted in a 
great measure, no doubt, because of expected bene- 
fits. After having once been there he was rarely 
absent, but the others it seemed almost impossible 
to reach in any way. Employment was offered to 


134 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFORD. 


tlie man and to Siine, but they never could be in- 
duced to work more than a day or two at a time. 
The few baskets sold and what they could beg 
about Clannyford would not, of course, suffice for 
even their miserable style of living, but they own- 
ed a poor half-blind old horse and a dilapidated 
wagon, and with these they made trips off to the 
neighboring cities and through the country, collect- 
ing what they could. After the first novelty had 
worn away, it was seldom that any of the villagers 
went near the cabin, where visitors were evidently 
unwelcome, but little Dan grew to be a favorite in 
more homes than one. 

Kent Graham recognized the child in one of his 
visits to Mrs. Gray’s, and gleefully related how 
and when he had first met him. Dan remembered 
too. 

It rained an’ you couldn’t go away,” he said. 

You had that on,” pointing to Kent’s watch. 

\Yhat made you move away from that place ?” 
Kent asked. 

^^Dunno; on’y Bill, maum an’ Sime come.” 

“ Where is Sime now ?” 

Gone off long o’ Bill.” 

Whether Sime ever saw and recognized him or 
not, Kent did not know, or whether it was because 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFOBB. 


135 


of that individuaFs cautiousness or only in the nat- 
ural course of events that he never met him. 

With the excej)tion of the strangers, matters in 
Clannyford went on outwardly much as usual. 
Sam Cresly still w^orked in the mill, but with a 
heart growing stronger and braver, more self-reli- 
ant and hopeful, though he was scarcely conscious 
of the fact. Gradually, too, a change was coming 
over his home. The frames had been finished and 
pronounced satisfactory, and the money for them 
had bought Susie’s longed-for pink dress and many 
other articles beside. Mrs. Cresly found herself in 
a novel position when for the first time in years 
she went into a store with the idea of looking out 
something pretty for her child, it was so long 
since that word had been used in connection with 
anything to be worn in their family. The dress 
having been selected, and material for a jacket for 
Teddy besides, she aroused into a little motherly 
anxiety that they should be made up nicely, and 
Mrs. Clark was appealed to for patterns. She 
could not have applied to a better one in such a 
case than that same cheery, sunshiny, good-natured 
woman. Mrs. Clark had a quick eye and a skill- 
ful hand — that talent for cutting, contriving and 
making over” which amounts to genius in some 


136 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFOBD. 


women. Her own children always looked nicely, 
albeit they v/ere dressed on next to nothing/^ as 
she said. They had need of giving their clothing 
close wearing, but no one ever saw them with a 
garment of one kind and a patch of another. If 
Willie’s coat needed mending, and she had no pieces 
like it, coat and pieces - both were colored, and so 
made uniform ; if Annie’s dress must be length- 
ened out, a neatly-contrived tuck concealed the 
seam. She had more than once remarked that her 
fingers fairly ached to get hold of those young 
Creslys and fix them up a little.” So, instead of 
sending patterns, she went over herself, and entered 
into the work with animation, planned, contrived, 
cut out, and finally offered to come for an after- 
noon or two and help make up the garments. 
She never guessed how Sam watched her, admir- 
ing her busy cheerfulness, those evenings he was at 
home, but she knew Mrs. Cresley was glad of her 
help, aud she was too well pleased with her own 
work not to feel satisfied. 

Susie had watched the packing and sending off 
the flower-frames with something like regret. 

^‘They’re so pretty! How nice they’ll look 
with flowers and vines growing all over ’em, won’t 
they ?” she said. Oh, I wish I had some I” 


cmmcs OF clannyfobb. 


137 


Pshaw ! what would you do with ^em ?” an- 
swered Sam, rather roughly. He was thinking of 
the beautiful garden where those he had made 
would be put up. 

“ Why, I’d put it in the yard and get a vine or 
something to grow round it. Mis’ Gray’d give me 
something, I just know she would,” said the little 
girl, coaxingly. You’ve got some pieces left that’s 
all cut out, Sam ; they’d do. Do make me one.” 

Sam was gathering up the pieces from his bench ; 
he had material enough, as she had said, and, as far 
as the work was concerned, he liked that. 

Well, I might make one, I s’pose, but I don’t 
know any good it’ll do,” he answered, slowly. 

Susie accepted the words as a promise, however, 
and was so joyous over it that there was nothing 
left for him but to go to work. The frame was ac- 
cordingly made, and coming home from work the 
evening after its completion, he found it duly es- 
tablished in the yard through the united efforts of 
Ted and Susie. The little girl had been to Mrs. 
Gray, too, and, as she had predicted, had met with 
ready success. 

‘^Many vines are slow in growing, and you 
wouldn’t want to wait long, I suppose,” the old 
lady had said, with a sympathizing remembrance 


138 CHINKS OF CLANNYFOBD, 

of childish impatience. ^^You want something 
that will look pretty this summer. I will see if 
my cypress has come up ; if it has, you shall have 
some of that.’^ 

The delicate green leaves were already up, and 
Susie carried her treasures home in triumph, and 
she and Teddy proceeded to plant them as Mrs. 
Gray had directed. 

It looks nice,” said Susie as they stood off to 
admire their work. 

The rest of the yard don’t, though,” said Teddy, 
rather discontentedly. His ambition had been sud- 
denly awakened by the pretty garden they had 
visited. 

Susie looked around her, and was forced to 
admit that their one ornament was somewhat out 
of keeping with its surroundings. ^‘AVe might 
clean up,” she suggested, a little timidly. 

Let’s,” said Teddy. It’ll be as much fun as 
makin’ old baby-houses, anyhow, and that’s all girls 
ever want to play.” 

They went to work energetically. Teddy bor- 
rowed a rake and the little girl possessed herself 
of a broom. Sticks, rags and bits of paper were 
carefully swept and gathered up, and various ar- 
ticles — some boards, a hoopless wash-tub and an 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFOBD. 


139 


old saw-horse — were carried around to the back of 
the house, and the little front yard was at length 
brought to an appearance of neatness and order 
that they had never seen it wear before. It struck 
Sam’s astonished eyes, that evening when he came 
home from wmrk, almost as though it had been 
some miracle. He paused at the gate and stood 
quite still, looking about him. Something very 
like tears came to his eyes and a strange choking 
to his throat for a moment. He could not think 
what brought it — what new thing was coming over 
him, as well as over the place — and he walked 
slowly up the narrow path to the house. The 
tired but happy children found their work thor- 
oughly appreciated by him, at least, and were sur- 
prised, in their turn, to find that Sam cared about 
and was pleased by such a thing. He showed 
them that he was. It was possible that they might 
do something toward making that house like a 
home, and he talked more with them that evening 
than they could remember his ever having done at 
one time before. His life had made him silent, 
reticent and moody enough, poor fellow ! and in his 
oftentimes bitter thinking he had grown little ac- 
customed to pleasant talking. 

After supper he went out to the yard again, and 


140 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFOBD. 


sat clown there — “ because it looked nice/^ he said. 
The children followed him. 

Oh, you ought to see Mis’ Gray’s yard !” said 
Susie, with a burst of admiration at the memory. 

She’s got such handsome flowers — them that ain’t 
vines — all growing in beds ; they’re red, blue an’ 
white — oh, so pretty !” 

AYhy don’t you and Ted make a bed too ? 
I s’pose, likely, she’d give you some of ’em to put 
in it,” said Sam, entering into the spirit of im- 
provement himself. 

Teddy caught at the suggestion. 

Anyhow, I know where there’s lots of wild 
flowers as pretty as any folks’ garden; I could 
get them,” he said. 

Susie’s cheeks were flushed and her eyes spark- 
ling. 

We’ll do it to-morrow, won’t we, Ted ? Couldn’t 
you show us where to make the beds, Sam ?” 

So the elder brother went to work with them 
and marked out the place. Verily, there had been 
a great clearing away of weeds and rubbish that 
day in other places than the little yard — a plant- 
ing of flowers in richer soil than that of the 
garden. 


CHAPTER VII. 


T will be an ornament to the city, so fine a 
building, said Mr. Graham as the com- 
mittee that had waited upon him to secure 
his aid in the erection of a new church 
withdrew, gladdened by a liberal donation. 

^^Yes,^’ answered Dr. Williston, pacing slowly 
to and fro over the velvet carpet and measuring 
his step from heart to heart of the roses, “ it will 
be a fine building. They will have their beauti- 
ftdly stained windows, their splendid choir, grand 
organ and eloquent minister; then they will sit 
comfortably back in their cushioned pews and 
listen, and what good will it do 
Mr. Graham laughed : 

You must not judge the effect upon others by 
its having so little upon you, doctor. The most 
of mankind are more impressible.^^ 

^Mmpressible ? That’s just the word! that’s all 
there is of it !” exclaimed the doctor. ‘^ They en- 
joy the good music and fine sermon, and because 

they do, and go regularly to listen to it, they call 

141 



142 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFORD. 


themselves Christians. Once outside the church 
doors, it would be hard to tell how they differ 
from others, and in what their lives are better 
than yours or mine. Talk about living for a 
better world ! Why, they are just as anxious to 
get all they can, and hold on to all they get, in 
this world, as the rest of us. And as for loving 
their neighbors as themselves — Humph 

Mr. Graham often heard such remarks carelessly, 
neither shocked nor pained, but now he glanced a 
little uneasily toward Kent, who sat by an opposite 
wdndow with a book in his hand, and wished, 
though he scarcely knew why, that Dr. Williston 
had not spoken so before the boy. 

But the doctor was on a theme where he always 
found enough to say, and pursued his subject quite 
unconscious of his listener’s feelings. 

^Mf they really believed what they profess, do 
you suppose so many of them would be content 
to live so that it is almost impossible to tell which 
side they belong to, satisfied if they can squeeze 
their own souls into heaven at last, without caring 
what becomes of any one else? I tell you, Graham, 
such Christianity is — ” 

A portrait hung upon the wall where the light 
fell upon it — a fair, sweet, womanly face. Mr. 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFORD. 


143 


Graham’s glance rested upon it for an instant, and 
something in the beautiful eyes made him inter- 
rupt the speaker. 

‘^Ah, well, doctor, there is truth enough — too 
much, indeed — in what you say. But, after all, if 
these people are no better than we, neither are we 
better than they, and I never feel quite comfortable 
in blaming others for not doing anything well until 
I am ready to take hold myself and prove that I 
can do it better. Then, too, however many coun- 
terfeits of Christianity there may be in the world, 
there is that which is genuine. I know, for I have 
seen it — pure, tried gold.” 

There was the faintest perceptible tremor in his 
voice as lie spoke the last words, and his eyes just 
swept the picture for an instant as he turned them 
away from his guest — only an instant, and he look- 
ed back smiling and calm as ever. 

The doctor had followed and comprehended that 
brief glance, and though he gave no sign of having 
done so, he quietly changed the conversation to 
other topics. 

There had been nothing new, original or partic- 
ularly forcible in what the doctor had said, and he 
himself had forgotten it an hour afterward. It 
was only the old weapon leveled at the Church 


144 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFOMD. 


again and again, the old cry taken up so often, 
yet Kent Graham’s young heart was somewhat 
wounded, a little discouraged, by it. How could 
any one, even the best, walk always with a firm, 
unfaltering step in the right path? And if he 
did not — if he stumbled or turned aside — the 
religion he professed would be called worthless, 
and the cause he loved would suffer. He was 
thinking about it during all his ride out to Clan- 
nyford. 

There is so much expected of Christians, isn’t 
there. Aunt Gray ?” he said as he sat near the old 
lady that evening, something of his troubled feeling 
stealing into his tone. 

She smiled : 

Expected by whom, Kent ? — the world, them- 
selves or God?” 

By the world. I don’t see how any one can ex- 
pect much from himself, and God does not expect, 
he knoics” The boy said the last words as if there 
were a sudden thought of comfort in them — those 
simple words that so often hold a world of com- 
forting, God knows !” 

^^True,” Mrs. Gray answered. ^Mt does seem 
strange sometimes, and hard that when one has ac- 
knowledged himself to be a sinner — his best right- 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFOED. 


145 


eousness but as filthy rags, utterly unable to save 
himself, and dependent alone for hope upon the 
atoning blood that only can wash away guilt — that 
the world should straightway interpret it that he 
has confessed himself a saint, and so watch him, 
commenting scornfully upon all imperfections and 
failures. They say that Christians make ^ great 
professions.^ I never knew one who professed to 
be anything more than a sinner, or to be doing 
anything more than trying to follow the Master.’’ 

‘^It is hard and unjust,” said Kent. 

Ah, Kent” — Mrs. Gray spoke quickly — said 
seemed hard sometimes. After all, it is God’s own 
ordaining that we are to be judged by our lives, 
the penitent known to be sincere by his turning 
for ever away from those things of which he has 
repented. ‘By their fruits ye shall know them.’ 
‘If any man love me, he will keep my words.’ 
The people of God are to be ‘a city set on a hill ;’ 
the world will not forget this, and we must not.” 

There was a few moments’ silence, then Kent 
said, musingly : 

“ There are so many things one ought to do.” 

Ought to be, he meant, perhaps; Mrs. Gray fan- 
cied so, but she answered his words as he had 

spoken them : 

10 


146 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFOBD. 


A great many things to be done, but not so 
many things one ought to do. We have each our 
own peculiar work to do, in our own way, using 
the individuality God has given us in the position 
where he has placed us. Of all the millions of lives 
that have been and are yet to be lived in the world, 
no two ever have been, or ever will be, alike. We 
stand each one alone. It is not the best that can 
be, but our best, that is required of us.” 

But it is easy to make a mistake there ?” said 
Kent, half questioningly, half musingly, and still 
remembering Dr. Willistoifs words. I suppose, 
aunty, that a great many people think they are 
doing good work and their best work, when, after 
all, it is worthless or something worse.” 

That may be. Do you remember what Paul 
says about the builders? — ^ Other foundation can 
no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.’ 
^Let every man take heed how he huildeth there- 
upon,'^ ^ Now if any man build upon this founda- 
tiouj gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stub- 
ble.’ ^ Every man’s work shall be made manifest, 
for the day shall declare it, because it shall be re- 
vealed by fire, for the fire shall try every man’s 
work, of what sort it is.’ ” 

She paused for a moment, and then added 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFOBD. 


147 


slowly, “ If any man’s work shall abide which he 
hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. 
If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer 
loss : but he himself shall be saved ; yet so as by 
fire. The foundation is firm and sure for ever, 
Kent, and all of real value — ^gold, silver and 
precious stones ’ — that we may build upon it, but 
our worthless structures of wood, hay and stubble, 
dignify them by what name we may, will be swept 
away at last.” 

Kent leaned his head upon the window-sill and 
looked dreamily out toward the rosy western sky, 
silent for a little while, his thoughts drawn away, 
as his friend had intended, from the world’s judg- 
ment to God’s. Presently the sound of a step on 
the graveled walk fell upon his ear, and raising 
his head, he recognized the approaching figure. 

^^Sam Cresly!” he said, a little surprise in his 
tone. 

‘^I suppose he has come to tell me something 
about my flower-frames, then,” Mrs. Gray answered. 

I engaged him to make two for me, the same as 
those he made for your father.” She laid down 
her work and went to the door to meet him. 

Sam would not go in, so Kent went out too, 
carrying in his hand the book that he had been 


148 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFOBD. 


holding, but certainly not reading. The little 
item of business concluded, Mrs. Gray went back 
to the house, while Kent walked slowly down to 
the gate with the young workman. 

^^What is that?’^ asked Sam, glancing at the 
book. 

Only one of my school-books. I brought two 
or three of them down with me to look at a little ; 
our academy term begins next week.” 

A look that had a little tinge of envy in it 
crossed Sam’s face at the words. He took the 
volume Kent held toward him and turned the 
leaves eagerly. 

“ I expect there’s a lot here that a fellow would 
like to know about,” he said. 

“ That depends upon what kind of a fellow he 
is,” Kent answered, laughingly; then he added, 
honestly, don’t care about real hard study — 
that is, I don’t really like to do it, you know. Of 
course I want to keep up with my classes, but 
there are some of the boys who just seem to enjoy 
it in the same way that I do histories and travels 
or an interesting story ; I like those.” 

don’t know much about ’em,” said Sam, 
still scanning the pages before him; ^^only, this 
don’t look very hard.” 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFORD. 


149 


Oh, ho responded Kent, gayly. I have a 
lot of school books that I don’t use now ; I’ll bring 
them out to you, and just let you find out for 
yourself whether they are hard or easy.” 

Sam laughed too. 

^‘Any way, I s’pose I could find out what 
they was driving at if I tried hard enough,” he 
said. 

Of course you could ; I managed to do that, 
and — Well, it does pay for the trouble, though it 
isn’t the easiest thing in the world. Never mind ; 
just wait until you have had a trial of it !” 

Most likely I w^on’t be bothered a-trying ; 
you’ll forget all about it,” answered Sam, with a 
laugh that he tried to make careless, and with a 
secret wish at his heart that his words might not 
prove true. 

No, I’ll not,” answered Kent, and he did not ; 
when he came next to Clannyford, the books came 
with him. He was ‘^building better than he 
knew,” just then. There had been something of 
boyish fun in his offer, and a desire to let Sam dis- 
cover that a schoolboy’s path was not altogether 
one of roses, and there had also been the thought 
that if he should like them well enough to study 
them any, the books might be useful to him. He 


150 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFORB. 


did not dream of the earnestness with which Sam 
really went to work at them — not so much from 
any love of study for its own sake, for he liked 
mechanical employments better, but because he 
thought that the knowledge contained in those vol- 
umes would help him, as he phrased it, ^^to be 
somebody.” What had been at first but a mere 
vague wish in the boy’s heart was growing more 
and more into a strong determination to break 
away from the old life of passive submission to 
the chains of ignorance and poverty, and to try, at 
least, if there might not be something better for 
him and for his. 

“What you goin’ to do, Sammy?” asked his 
mother as, the first evening after Kent’s gift, he 
brought out the books and laid them upon the 
little pine table beside the lamp he had lighted. 

“ I’m going to try and find out what’s in these 
that’s worth a feller’s knowing, if I can. They’re 
school-books, and I’m going to study ’em,” he an- 
swered, with a resolute purpose in his tone that 
gave to his mother’s wild wonder something of 
admiration too. 

“ Oh, ho ! I wouldn’t !” said Teddy, contempt- 
uously ; “ it’s lots more fun to go in the woods and 
hunt snakes, and build dams in the creek, than to 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFORD. 


151 


go to school and study reading and mental Mth- 
metic. Wish I didn’t have to !” he added, pathet- 
ically. 

Owing to his mother’s indifference on the subject 
and his own want of inclination, and of respect- 
able clothing besides, Teddy’s attendance at the 
village school had neither been so regular nor so 
long continued as to interfere very seriously with 
his ideas of pleasure. But lately, since his clothing 
had assumed a more respectable appearance, Sam 
had insisted that he should go regularly, and Susie 
too. Teddy considered it a great grievance. Sam 
didn’t use to care whether we went or not ; it’s one 
of his new notions,” he said. Still, as many of 
these new notions ” had been pleasant ones — the 
buying him clothes to go with, for instance — and 
as he had some respect for and a little fear of his 
elder brother, Teddy submitted to the arrangement, 
though he did so under protest. 

Catch me studying if I didn’t have to !” he ex- 
claimed. I wish I was big, like you, and needn’t 
go to school.” 

You’d just like to live on anyhow, and never 
know anything or be anybody, all your life, and 
have everybody look down on you as if you wasn’t 
worth their notice, wouldn’t you?” asked Sam, 


152 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFORD. 


sharply, forgetting that at Teddy’s age he had cared 
no more for these things than Teddy did now. 

Ho ! no, they wouldn’t, neither,” said the boy, 
independently. I’m going to be rich when I’m 
a man, and I’ll just ride in amongst ’em in my 
splendid carriage with gold wheels, and my 
two black horses with gold dollars around their 
necks, and see if they don’t notice me. Mebby,” 
said Teddy, reflectively — mebby I might hire 
somebody to do my mental ’rithmetic for me, ’cause 
I know I won’t want to do it myself, and Miss 
Page says it’s something we’ll all need when we 
grow up.” 

Sam had opened his books, and made no answer, 
but Susie, astonished by the magnificence of Master 
Ted’s intentions, found them rather too much to be- 
lieve in all at once. 

Carriages don’t ever have gold wheels to ’em, 
and I don’t believe you’ll be rich enough, anyway,” 
she said, gravely. 

‘^Then I’ll have ’em painted yeller, and nobody’ll 
know the difference,” replied Teddy, philosophically, 
knocking his heels against the chair. 

Sam had opened his books, and he went to work 
at them in good earnest. It was the first of many 
evenings so spent — not unpleasant evenings, either, 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFORD. 


153 


for be became more interested in these new friends 
as he became better acquainted with them. He 
began to feel some pride in his own progress, too, 
which, if not rapid, was sure. Kent brought him 
many books after those first ones, histories, and 
books of travel, sometimes, the reading of which, 
Sam said, was ^^not work; it was only fun,” but 
from which, nevertheless, he gained much. Kent 
saw it with satisfaction, and a little of wonder, too, 
but then he had never known the want of these 
things, and could scarcely understand what they 
were to this boy whose life had been so different. 

Meanwhile, things within and without the house 
had grown more comfortable than they had been 
for months before. Sam’s work was steady, and 
though he could earn no great amount, there was 
no one now to waste any part of it in liquor. The 
money for the flower-frames had provided some 
new clothing, and Mrs. Clark’s skill and kindness 
had manufactured some wearable articles out of 
the old. She had contrived, too, in her pleasant, 
neighborly way, to suggest improvements of various 
kinds. When she was there mending a jacket for 
Ted or cutting out a dress for Susie, it was easy to 
say, without assuming any air of superiority or 
seeming to notice defects, What a nice box that 


154 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFORD. 


is out in the yard ! Why don’t you have it papered 
and brought in to stand in this corner ? It would 
be so handy to keep things in, and look nice be- 
sides.” Or she could remark carelessly, I’ll tell 
you what we can do with those two breadths of 
old calico, Mrs. Cresly — we can make a curtain to 
hang before that cupboard.” 

As her advice was coupled with her assistance, 
her plans were generally carried out, and the effect 
was plainly visible in the appearance of the place. 
Mrs. Cresly, too, had been stimulated by her in- 
fluence into more of thought and care about such 
matters than she had known for a long time before. 
She had been pleased by the praise her neighbor 
bestowed upon the alteration that the children had 
effected in the yard and by Sam’s interest in it, 
but she scarcely knew how to view these evening 
studies. 

Sam’s takin’ a great deal to books lately,” she 
said, a little doubtfully. 

^^I’d be glad of it, if I was you,” answered Mrs. 
Clark, with an emphatic nod of the head. ^^He 
might take to many a worse thing.” 

Mrs. Cresly assented, with a quick sigh at the 
memory of what was still so near and fresh that 
it seemed scarcely possible it could be only a 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFORD. 


155 


memory, and Sam pursued his chosen course 
without remonstrance, though it is doubtful if 
the feeble, gentle mother would have attempted 
that if she had thought him wrong instead of 
right. 

Busy with these same books Mrs. Gray found 
Sam one Sunday when she called to inquire after 
Susie, who had been kept from her place in Sab- 
bath-school by a bruised foot. 

Reading, are you ?’’ she said, pleasantly. 

“ Yes’m ; it^s a history of England,” said Sam, 
answering the question that her eyes seemed to 
ask, though her words did not. 

That is interesting,” she said, slowly. 

like it pretty well,” said Sara. Anyhow, 
it^s a good thing to know about and find out what 
the world is like.” 

good thing, but not the best thing,” she 
answered. 

Sam looked up at her wonderingly. She smiled : 

^^All these things are useful and right, but 
wouldn’t it be better for one day in the week — 
this clay — to study about that other world where, 
after all, we must live so much the longest?” 

In 'her own sweet, gentle way the words were 
spoken, and without waiting for any reply she 


156 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFORD. 


turned and began talking to Susie again. The 
boy, indeed, had no answer to make. Long after 
she had gone away he sat with his eyes still fixed 
upon the book, but without turning a leaf. He 
was half vexed at the words, which he could not 
forget, and which in some way interfered with his 
reading. From many another he would keenly 
have resented them, as spoken only because ^^every- 
body thought they had a right to meddle with poor 
folks and give ’em all sorts of advice,” and they 
would have aroused only his pride and obstinacy. 
But from Mrs. Gray it was different. She had 
never taken any more liberties in their little cot- 
tage than she would have done in the best house 
in the village; had always respected their rights 
and feelings as individualswvithout regard to what 
dress they wore or how poor they were. He knew, 
too, that what she had said to him she would Lave 
said even more quickly to Kent Graham. So, 
though a feeling of annoyance lingered, he could 
not be angry, and at last, closing his volume, he 
pushed it impatiently from him and walked out 
of doors. 

The thought that had been first awakened by 
Kent’s question in the boat, and that had been 
deepened and strengthened by the solemn, earnest 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFOBD, 157 

words he had heard at the funeral, came back now. 
His life was something to God. The One who 
gave it cared what he made of it and how he lived 
it. He knew that now, and the knowledge, though 
he had scarcely been conscious of it, had given 
him a new feeling of self-respect and had increased 
his hopefulness in the efforts he had been making. 
But that other world of which Mrs. Gray had 
spoken he had scarcely thought of at all ; he had 
been too busy with this. And yet there, after 
all, we must live the longest,’’ she had said. After 
all the studying, after all the trying to make a 
happier home, after all the dreams of climbing up 
to a position of comfort and respect — even if he 
could succeed in them all — he could, after any effort 
at advancement, enjoy them but a few years, and 
after all ” would come that other world of which 
he knew nothing, where “ we must live the long- 
est.” 

It was not a pleasant thought to him, yet it came 
back often during the next week. After the day’s 
work, after the evening’s study, it came, bringing a 
vague feeling of dissatisfaction. He could busy and 
interest himself in repairing the garden gate or di- 
lapidated doorstep, or in the book he had taken up, 
but when it was finished up rose the haunting sen- 


158 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFOEI). 


tence — “ That other world where, after all, we must 
live the longest.’^ 

Perhaps it was because of that, though I think 
he himself scarcely knew why it was, that when 
the hour for service came the next Sabbath he 
followed the little groups that wended their way 
to the school-house, and passing in, took his seat 
among the worshipers. It was not a large room, 
and the only seats were the benches which dur- 
ing the week days many a mischievous knife had 
marked with rude initials. Pulpit there was 
none — nothing but a platform with a plain table 
upon it — yet it all seemed pleasant that quiet 
Sabbath morning, with the soft breeze stealing 
in through the open windows, lifting little chil- 
dren's sunny curls from their warm temples, flut- 
tering the mothers’ bonnet ribbons, fanning the 
fathers’ heated foreheads and bringing a faint 
resinous odor from the pines that surrounded the 
building. 

It was a peaceful, restful hour to the pastor 
who had come away from his city church for a 
half-day’s service in this little nook in the woods. 
His topic was the old command repeated so often, 
yet never oftener than the need for it; ^^Lay 
up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFOEI). 


159 


neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where 
thieves do not break through nor steal/^ There 
were some careless hearers, as there always are, 
but Sam, watching the faces of those by whom he 
was surrounded, felt sure that to some there the 
other world was not a thought of chill and 
dread, but of rest and peace. He saw it in their 
glistening eyes and heard it in their voices as 
they sang : 

“Jerusalem, my happy home, 

Name ever dear to me ! 

When shall my labors have an end 
In joy and peace and thee ? 

“ When shall these eyes thy heaven-built walls 
And pearly gates behold ? 

Thy bulwarks, with salvation strong. 

And streets of shining gold ?” 

Oh the dear old hymns ! how they sing them- 
1 selves into heart and brain ! The boy went away 
I more thoughtful still, and with the words of that 
I song deep in his memory. He was beginning to 
1 understand that he wanted something more than 
I home, education and position, but he did not know 
what. As he was walking homeward down the 
shady road. Miss Grail, whose quick eyes had no- 


160 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFOBD. 


ticed his unwonted presence at the morning meet- 
ing, joined him. 

“ I want to ask your help about a plan that I 
have for our Sabbath-school,^^ she said. Don’t 
you think that some of the older boys would come 
and form themselves into a Bible class ? The fact 
is we need their help and influence, and the Bible 
history and lessons are well worth studying, even 
for those who are too far advanced for the simple 
questions and answers of the children.” 

Bible history ! Sam colored slightly, and won- 
dered if Mrs. Gray had been telling her about her 
visit, and how she had found him engaged the 
previous Sunday. But the lady’s pleasant glance, 
meeting his so frankly, dispelled the suspicion. 

^^AYouldn’t you like it? Don’t you think you 
could get some others to come ?” she asked. 

I don’t know ; mebby I might,” Sam an- 
swered slowly and rather doubtfully. But Miss 
Crail, without seeming to notice his hesitation, 
construed his words into consent, and responded 
brightly : 

Thank you! I shall expect you, then, and 
there will some others come too, I know. I am 
very glad.” 

After that, though Sam did not much like the 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFORD. 


161 


idea of going, he could not make up his mind 
to stay away and disappoint the lady w'ho had 
asked him in a manner that gratified his growing 
manliness and self-respect, and wdio seemed to 

consider that he had promised. 

11 



CHAPTER VIII. 


UTUMN had come. The lilies and roses in 
Mrs. Gray’s garden had given place to crim- 
son dahlias and golden and white chrysan- 
themums, and even these were beginning to 
curl their leaves and look draggled and forlorn 
under the touch of the early frost. Housekeepers 
and their brooms were waging brisk war with the 
falling leaves for possession of the garden w^alks, 
while the forest paths, where no broom came, were 
fast being covered with brightly-colored leaves and 
some that were brown and dry, and rustled as little 
Dan’s bare feet passed through them. Schoolgirls 
going homeward carried handfuls of golden-rod 
from the river side, and Teddy Cresly and the little 
frisky gray squirrels kept bright-eyed watch of the 
trees where they knew the nuts were ripening. 

Mrs. Cresly shivered a little at the chilly nights 
and mornings, and wmndered helplessly how they 
were goin’ to get along through the winter,” while, 
across the street, Mrs. Clark, whose forte was doing 

instead of doubting, was cheerily overlooking the 
162 



CHINKS OF CLANNYFORD. 163 

worsted garments worn by her little flock the pre- 
vious winter, and planning for their remodeling. 
In Miss Craiks kitchen good old Hannah, putting 
away her stores of dried corn, canned fruits and 
jars of preserves, surveyed them with mingled 
satisfaction and thankfulness, and said, as she 
turned her dark face toward the mistress, 

“ How nice all de seasons fit into each oder ! 
What’s dat de Bible says, honey? — ^ While de 
earth remains, seed-time an’ harves’, cold an’ heat, 
summer an’ winter, day an’ night, shall not cease’ 
— not cease, bress God !” 

To the world of traffic and trade this autumn 
did not come as brightly as was autumn’s wont. 

Business is dull,” said the merchants, leaning 
over their counters. Money is tight,” remarked 
the owners of well-filled pocket-books, grasping 
them so closely as to prove their assertion, while 
they refused to invest in the countless schemes 
urged upon them. Times are hard,” groaned the 
fathers of families, looking worn and anxious, 
and the familiar little word economize” was 
heard on all sides. 

A cloud rested over Graham’s mills. Various 
rumors were afloat among the workmen, and after 
working-hours they gathered in little groups to 


164 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFOBD. 


discuss chances and probabilities. Mr. Crail had 
been cautiously questioned by some, and though 
but little had been elicited from his reticence, that 
little was not very hopeful. Mr. Graham had 
visited the factory and held a long conversation 
with Mr. Crail in that gentleman’s office, and a 
boy who had been sent in with some message to 
the superintendent reported that he had overheard 
the words won’t pay” and shut down,” though, 
of course, he didn’t know what they Were talking 
about.” 

All such little items were commented upon and 
surmised over by the men. Various signs and 
indications, trivial in themselves, but amounting to 
much in the aggregate, had been noted by careful 
eyes, until what had been at first a vague fear had 
grown to an almost settled expectation. The men 
came to their work with anxious faces, at once 
waiting for and dreading the tidings that they felt 
must come. 

It was all exchanged for certainty one dreary, 
cloudy evening after the great bell had sounded 
its peal. Mr. Crail came into the long room, and 
something in his face made the eyes there turn 
upon him with a questioning look. It was not 
easy, even for him, cool and calm as he usually 


\ 

I 

1 

i 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFORD. 


165 


was, to meet those glances and say what he had 
come to say — not easy, though he knew that they 
guessed his message. 

I haven’t the best news for you to-night, my 
men,” he said. The mill must stop. Times are 
terribly dull just now; there’s not a cent to be 
made, and money would be lost by running any 
longer, and Mr. Graham has decided to close up 
for a while. I’m sorry, but there will be no work 
after this week.” 

A low murmur ran through the crowd, but 
no one spoke for a moment; then Mr. Grail, 
glancing at the faces around him, added : 

don’t think this will last very long. We 
shall probably start up again — in March, anyway, 
I hope — and, of course, old hands wdll have the 
preference.” 

Slowly they passed down the worn stairs and 
out into the open air, separating into little groups 
of two and three as they walked homeward. 
Some of the younger, more hopeful ones said, 
cheerily, Well, we shall have to be traveling, and 
hunt up work somewhere else.” Others said noth- 
ing at all, silent in their thoughtfulness. They had 
families to support, and only their daily work to 
bring daily food, clothing and comfort. Four 


166 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFOBD. 


months until March ! It looked hopelessly far 
away. What should they do in the mean time? 
was the question they were trying to answer. 

Oh dear, Sammy ! what be we a-goin’ to do 
exclaimed Mrs. Cresly, in dreary despondency, 
when Sam carried home the word. 

The boy had no reply to make, and much of the 
old despairing bitterness came back to his heart 
again as he seated himself in the doorway and 
leaned his head upon his hand. He had been 
trying so hard to make things better and brighter 
for them all, and now it must come to nothing at 
last. What could he do? He was but a boy, and 
it was doubtful if he could find work elsewhere in 
these dull times, and even if he did, he could do 
but little more than support himself away from 
honne. What would become of them all ? 

Tim Nolan also carried home the tidings — home 
to Maggie’s tidy little kitchen — and told her with 
as hopeful a face and brave a heart as he could 
command. They had discussed the probability of 
the event before, and now that it had come, Tim 
said : 

^^Misther Crail tould us they’d be startin’ in 
March, but it’s long waitin’ till that time for the 
likes of us, Maggie ! Still, I’m thinkin’ we’ll not 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFORD. 


167 


lave the bit of a house an’ garden that’s so nate an’ 
convanient an’ move off intirely. It’s better ye 
stays here wid the childer, an’ I’ll go by mesilf, 
jist, an’ hunt work till sich times as the facthory 
starts ag’in.” 

Maggie looked up with an anxious, shadowed 
face, despite her effort at a smile. If the mill were 
to start again in the spring, it did indeed seem best 
to keep their home and have Tim go back to his 
old place ; it was doubtful if he could find as steady 
employment elsewhere. But those intervening 
four months ! Maggie’s heart failed as she thought 
of them. Her strongly tempted, easily yielding 
Tim, what would he do in those days of looking 
about for a place? And if he found one — in a 
city, perhaps — how long would he keep it or his 
good resolutions, away from his home and its in- 
fluences, surrounded by drinking companions and 
with temptation on every side? Where would he 
be before the four months were gone? No pos- 
sible hardships, privations, or even starvation for 
herself and children, were so much to be feared as 
ruin for him. She had all along been hoping 
against hope that Tim’s prophecies concerning the 
stopping of the mill would not be verified, and 
now that it had come, and she realized all that it 


168 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFOBD. 


involved, she covered her face and burst into 
passionate fit of weeping. 

Many other village homes there were where 
sober conclave was held that night, and to which 
the events of the day had brought cause for anx- 
ious thought and careful planning. 

Kent Graham had heard nothing of the proposed 
suspension of the works — not even that such a 
thing was thought of. Mr. Graham had not 
thought to mention the matter, and indeed it had 
not occurred to him that his boy would feel any in- 
terest in such a mere business item. So when at 
breakfast a letter from Mr. Grail was handed him, 
stating that the amount of work they had decided 
upon was completed, and that the announcement 
had been made to the employes the evening before, 
he glanced carelessly over the page and remarked : 

^‘Ah! the factory stops next week! I did not 
suppose they would get through quite so soon.’’ 

“The factory, father?” said Kent, setting down 
his coffee-cup in astonishment. “Yours? at Clan- 
nyford?” 

“Certainly; whose else should it be?” smiling. 
“Why, haven’t you heard anything about it before? 
I don’t know as you have, though ; very likely I 
have never thought to mention it.” 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFOBB. 169 

And why is it going to stop ? for how long 
Kent asked, quickly. 

I cannot say exactly how long — that will de- 
pend upon circumstances — but until some time 
next spring, I suppose. As for the reason — Why, 
Kent, you ought to know that yourself. A prom- 
ising business-man you will make answered Mr. 
Graham, laughing. 

Because of dull times?’’ said Kent. He knew 
that was the general complaint, repeated on all 
sides, but it had not meant much to him hitherto — 
nothing that affected his own life in any way. 
^^Yes, I have heard enough about ^hard times’ 
and business being dull, but I never thought of its 
affecting the factory.” 

It affects it so much as this : I should make 
nothing running this winter — should lose, in fact. 
Mr. Grail and I discussed the matter thoroughly, 
and decided that it was best to stop for the pres- 
ent.” 

Mr. Graham sipped his coffee and broke open 
another letter. Kent sat silent and thoughtful. 
To his father this was only the discharging of so 
many hands not needed ; to Kent it was friends in 
trouble. He knew more about those Clannyford 
homes, who the people were and how they lived. 


170 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFORD. 


He had grown so interested in Sam Cresly, trying 
in his own way to help him, and what would the 
poor fellow do now? Tim Nolan, too — he would 
spend his idle days at Favisham’s, most likely, 
where many of the others would go, and so make 
the hard times harder. Maggie’s troubled face 
rose before him, and the little twin girls looking 
solemn for sympathy. There was the Scotchman 
Blane, and his sick wife, and Mrs. Clark, who was 
so pleased when her oldest boy got a place in the 
mill; she would feel sad and disappointed now. 
How sorry for them all Aunt Gray would be ! 

Clannyford was a large part of Kent Graham’s 
world, he had been there so much. He had 
grown more thoughtful for others, too, of late, and 
knowing the gloom and depression that this event 
would cause, he could not but be troubled. It hung 
over him like a cloud all the day, darkening his 
happy sunshine and taking the enjoyment out of 
every plan and pleasure; the thought of those 
whom he had learned to care for there haunted 
him constantly. 

^^Why, Kent,” said his father as, late in the 
afternoon, he watched him taking up one book 
after another, and finally throwing them all aside 
to look idly out of the window, ^^what is the 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFOBD. 


171 


matter with you to-day ? You look as sober as if 
you had lost a fortune or a place by the milPs stop- 
ping.” 

Father,” said Kent, turning toward him sud- 
denly, do you know how much it would cost — I 
mean, how much you would lose by keeping the 
mill running this winter?” 

Certainly; I made that calculation, of course, 
before I decided to stop.” 

^^And couldn’t you afford to do it?” 

Afford to? That is rather an odd question, is 
it not ? I could afford to spend the money for that, 
or to throw it away in some other manner, I suppose, 
but that does not at all prove that it would be 
sensible to do so. If obliged to lose it, the sum 
is not so large that I should feel its loss very 
seriously, if that is what you mean.” 

That is what I meant.” 

^^And suppose I should not, what then?” Mr. 
Graham asked a little curiously. 

Kent did not answer the question directly, but 
only said : 

“ I am sorry for all those poor Clannyford people 
that are out of work ; it will be very hard for some 
of them.” 

Is that what has been troubling you ? Oh, 


172 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFORD. 


they will do well enough, no doubt. Clannyford 
mill is not the only one in the world, you know.^^ 

I know, but, father, their homes are there, and 
their families. A great many of them haven’t 
anything at all only what they earn in the fac- 
tory. Aunt Gray has told me about them, and the 
most of them I know, too. Some of them will be 
sure to drink when they are not at work.” 

That is not much to their credit,” interrupted 
Mr. Graham. 

No, sir, but it makes their being out of work 
all the worse. Mr. Blane has a sick wife to take 
care of, and Sam Cresly has his mother, little 
brother, and sister. They have been getting along 
better lately — since his father died, you know. Sara 
has been working steadily and fixing up the place 
some, too, and he has sent Ted and Susie to school. 
Aunt Gray thinks he has improved in a great many 
ways.” 

‘^All of which means — what? that you want me 
to keep the mill running this winter, since it would 
not be likely to ruin me?” 

So stated, it did sound like a rather audacious 
proposition, but Kent answered bravely and hon- 
estly : 

‘‘Yes, sir.” 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFORD. 


173 


That^s a modest request, indeed ! I’m afraid 
that you are getting rather extravagant in your 
fancies, young gentleman. The loss might not em- 
barrass me, to be sure, but still, it is too large a 
sum to throw away.” 

^^But it would not be thrown away if these 
others had the benefit,” pleaded Kent. 

Had the benefit ! Well, suppose they did, 
what are all these people to you, that you are so 
deeply interested in them and so anxious to help 
them?” Mr. Graham asked, watching the boy’s 
earnest face. 

Why ” — Kent was a little confused by the un- 
expected question — have been there so much 
that I know them all, and like them — the most of 
them — and so I can’t help being sorry when they 
are in trouble. I’d do anything I could to help 
them, because it is pleasant to do it, and be- 
cause — ” Kent hesitated. 

Because what?” persisted Mr. Graham, but 
pleasantly. I don’t want any half reasons.” 

Because it is right.” The boy’s voice sank lower, 
and faltered a little. Because helping others is 
working for God, and mother prayed that I might 
work for him ^ anywhere — everywhere.’ ” 

Kent’s blue eyes had grown tearful, but over the 


174 CHINKS OF CLANNYFORD. 

father’s darker ones the lids suddenly dropped, and 
hid them for a moment. The hand that had been 
carelessly playing with a gold pencil-case trembled 
and let it fall, and found it not quite easy to pick 
it up again. There was a brief silence ; then Mr. 
Graham made an effort to speak playfully, though 
his tones were not quite steady : 

^^Ah, well, Kent, I have spoiled you too long, 
I suspect, to commence doing anything else now. 
You may have your way about this.” 

About running the mill? Oh, father, will 
you ?” Kent started to his feet. 

“Yes; I will send Mr. Grail word. This is 
Saturday, and it is so late that they will have 
stopped work by this time, I suppose” — glancing 
at his watch — “but I will send out word on 
Monday.” 

“Oh, I wish they could know to-night!” said 
the boy, eagerly ; “ they would be so glad about it 
all day to-morrow. Lio would carry me out in 
a hurry, and I could easily be back by eight 
o’clock. It is moonlight, too, you know; let me 
go, father.” 

“What an impatient fellow! Off with you, 
then !” and Kent waited for no second bid- 
ding. 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFORD. 


175 


The father looked after him, and as the door 
closed behind him he murmured to himself, warm 
tears filling his eyes : “ He is Helen’s own boy ! 
It is just what she would have been sure to ask, 
my pure, noble darling !” and the stately head w'as 
bowed upon the study-table with something very 
like a sob. 

Lio sped away on his journey as though his 
young master’s light heart had made him an un- 
usually light load. It had been a pleasant after- 
noon, and it was fading into a pleasant evening. 
The sun sinking low in the cloudless sky flooded 
the earth with that mellow, golden light peculiar 
to some autumn days, and even the half-dismantled 
trees looked cheerful in its glow, but grayest sky 
and dullest landscape would scarcely have seemed 
dreary to the young traveler then as he flew along 
the road. Reaching Clannyford, he went directly 
to Mr. Grail’s house, but that gentleman was not 
there. 

^^He has not come from the mill yet,” Miss 
Grail said. 

Kent turned his horse’s head in the direction of 
the factory. The great building was silent and 
the operatives all gone, but Mr. Grail was in his 
office, where the arranging of some books had de- 


176 


CHINKS, OF CLANNYFORD. 


tained him. Kent sought him there, and delivered 
his message. 

The superintendent looked surprised, but not 
ill pleased. 

I am glad of it ! glad of it he said heartily. 

It’s a kind thing to do, anyway, and I felt 
sorry for some of the men yesterday. Kells,” as 
the night watchman employed for years about the 
place came into the room — Kells, we shall not 
stop, after all. Mr. Graham has just sent me 
word that he has decided to run the mill this 
winter.” 

That’s good news,” said the old man, a smile 
lighting up his grim face. I wish all the hands 
knew it; some of ’em would rest better to- 
night.” 

wish they did too,” answered Mr. Crail. 

shall tell those I see, and then I suppose I 
shall have the rest coming, one at a time, to- 
morrow, to find out whether it is true.” 

^^I’ll tell you what you might do, sir,” said 
Kells — ^Glng the bell. That w^ould soon bring 
them together, to see what was up.” 

Mr. Crail laughed. 

That’s an idea! You go and pull the bell- 
rope, Kells, and w^e will soon spread the news.” 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFOBD. 


177 


Kells hurried away, and Mr. Crail opened wide 
his office window. 

Now come and watch, Kent.’^ 

Clear and strong the peal of the bell rang out 
on the still air, and startled the quiet village. 
Instantly heads were, thrust out of the windows 
and people rushed to the doors to listen. What 
does that mean each asked of his neighbor, and 
no one could answer. Newspapers were dropped, 
babies hastily put down and supper-tables deserted 
without ceremony, while the men rushed away 
toward the factory, followed by a troop of boys 
and girls, all anxious to find out what was going 
on. 

A great crowd gathered outside the building. 

Holloa ! What’s up ? Factory on fire ? What’s 
the matter? What’s wrong?” sounded on every 
side. 

“ Keep still, all of you !” shouted Kells ; Mr. 
Crail has something to say to you.” 

The superintendent, standing at his window, 
raised his hand to command silence. 

There is nothing wrong, my men. I have 
some news that I thought you would all like to 
hear.” Mr. Crail’s voice had a pleasanter, more 
cordial tone than was its wont. Mr. Graham has 


12 


178 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFOBD. 


concluded to keep the mill running this winter, 
and you can all come to work as usual on Monday 
morning/’ 

A low murmur ran through the throng. What’s 
that?” What is it he says?” called a few from 
the outside who had not caught the words distinct- 
ly. The answer was given instantly from different 
sides — Going to be no stop.” ^^Work all win- 
ter.” 

“ Three cheers for Mr. Graham, boys !” called a 
deep voice with a touch of grateful feeling in it, 
and the cheers rang out loud, long and hearty. 

Three more for Mr. Grail and the Clannyford 
mills!” cried another, and again the voices filled 
the air until the whole village heard, while hats 
and caps were waved, and some sunbonnets by the 
little girls on the outskirts of the crowd, who fully 
appreciated the noise if not the news. 

Then the throng dispersed slowly, talking and 
laughing with each other as they walked homeward. 
Mr. Grail withdrew from his window with a laugh ; 

Quite a jubilee, wasn’t it? Well, I’ll put up 
my books now and go home.” 

Kent waited a few moments for him. 

'^I’d like to know, Kent,” he said, glancing a 
little curiously at the boy as he locked his office 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFORD. 179 

door and dropped the key into his pocket, whether 
this was your father’s notion or yours ?” 

It wouldn’t have been much use to be mine if 
it hadn’t been his too,” said Kent, laughing, but 
Mr. Crail was answered. He was silent, unusually 
silent even for him, as they walked up the street, 
but once or twice, on turning toward him, Kent 
caught his eyes scanning him with a peculiar glance 
that made him wonder a little. 

Not coming in ?” said Mr. Crail, at last, as he 
reached his own door and Kent declined entering. 

You had better.” 

Ko, sir, thank you. I promised to be at home 
by eight.” 

Mr. Crail watched him as he rode away, and 
said to himself as he entered the house, ^Mt was 
his own plan, I know it was ! All of a piece with 
that Tim JSTolan nonsense.” 

Kent paused just a moment at Aunt Gray’s for 
greeting and good-bye — long enough to hear her 
pleasant voice say : 

have heard what good news you brought; 
some one passing by told me. I am very glad.” 

Then he mounted once more, patted Lio’s glossy 
neck and started gayly homeward. The moon 
came up before he had finished his journey, and 


180 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFOBD. 


kept him company with the light of her fair, round 
face, which, with the clear, chill air, made the ride 
delightful. The lamps were lighted when he 
reached home, and he found his father, in dressing- 
gown and slippers, enjoying his paper in the glow 
of a cheerful fire that had been kindled in the li- 
brary. He looked up with a smile, though with a 
face that was a little sadder than its wont, perhaps 
— at least Kent fancied so for the moment before 
he spoke so cheerfully : 

Ah ! back already 

Yes, sir; it’s eight, isn’t it?” 

Yearly” — drawing out his watch — ^^but I 
hardly supposed you could get back as soon as 
you thought. Well, you saw Mr. Crail?” 

I saw him at the office. Oh, it was splendid !” 
said Kent, his face still flushed from his ride and 
his eyes sparkling. I wish you had been there 
and throwing himself down on a low seat by the 
Are, he told how the message had been delivered 
and described the scene. 

Mr. Graham leaned back in his chair and lis- 
tened, smiling, though he said but little. But even 
while he smiled and listened a strange ffincy clung 
to him of a light hand on his arm and a voice 
sounding more distinctly even than Kent’s — ^a sweet 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFORD. 


181 


voice, speaking words he had heard it utter long 
ago when urging some plan of benevolence : In- 
asmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least 
of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.” 

He roused himself, as the boy concluded his 
recital, to say. 

And now you are satisfied, I suppose ?” 

Are you, sir ?” asked Kent, roguishly. 

am satisfied that somebody below stairs is 
thinking anything but approvingly of your style 
of keeping tea waiting; you had better go and 
look after it.” 

The cloud so quickly rolled away, Clannyford 
resumed its old, busy life. 

I told you it would all come out right, Johnny, 
and it has,” said Mrs. Clark to her son that night 
as she bustled about cheerily, preparing a second 
edition of the supper that had grown cold by his 
running away and leaving it. Maggie Nolan smiled 
brightly at Tim’s assurance that ^^all the frettin’ 
had been for nothin’, intirely.” 

Sam Cresly walked homeward relieved of the 
weight that had been pressing upon his heart for 
so many weary hours. Teddy was there before 
him, telling the story in his own way : 

Oh, it was jolly ! And then some feller said, 


182 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFOED. 


^’Rah for Mr. Graham/ and us fellers all ’rahed 
and ^rahed, and for Mr. Grail and everybody. 
My throat’s sore, and say, mother, I didn’t half 
eat my supper, so I didn’t; where’s the rest of 
it ? ’Twas lots of fun, I tell you !” 

Something better than fun, I’m thinking,” 
commented Sam. We’re to go back to work 
on Monday, mother.” 

It’s a good thing for us, I’m sure, Sammy ; I 
didn’t know what we was a-goin’ to do. I wonder 
what made Mr. Graham change his mind all of a 
sudden, so ?” 

Sam had been wondering that too, linked with 
other thoughts that he did not care to tell — of the 
last Sabbath’s Bible lesson ; the long talk about 
God’s whatsoever,” and what was meant by it 
in the passage they had read : “ Whatsoever ye 
shall ask the Father in my name, he will give 
it you.” He was thinking of the brief prayer, 
the first that had ever crossed his lips, put up 
the night before — less in faith than in desperation, 
indeed, because he did not know what else to do — 
and wondering if it were possible that the blessing 
which had come to-night was in answer to that. 
Not quite willing to believe and not quite able 
to disbelieve it, the thought lingered in his heart, 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFOBD. 


183 


bringing a strange feeling of mingled dread, awe 
and thankfulness. 

hope there won’t any of the men take it 
out in a reg’lar spree to-night when they go up 
to Favisham’s for groceries/’ he said as he took 
up his books — the books he had had no heart to 
touch last night. 

Oh dear ! I hope not !” answered Mrs. Cresly. 
know where there’s an old tar barrel in 
Mr. Grail’s shed,” remarked Teddy. ^^I’m goin’ 
to ask Miss Grail for it, and get the boys, and 
have a rousin’ bonfire. Tar barrels is better’n 
whisky barrels any day.” 

A sentiment in which Miss Grail agreed, so the 
Glannyford boys had a bonfire that night. 



CHAPTER IX. 


HROUGII the quiet forest paths, over the 
dry and rustling leaves, under the great old 
trees, through whose leafless branches the 
sunshine fell, little Dan passed on his home- 
ward way one Sabbath afternoon. It was a long 
walk to the village Sunday-school, but not so long 
as those he was obliged to take on other days for 
a less agreeable purpose. 

He liked the notice and the kindness bestowed 
upon him. He liked the comfortable dinner which 
he was sure to have with either Mrs. Gray or Miss 
Crail, and the being dressed in neat, nice clothing. 
Mrs. Gray, though she had replaced the miserable 
rags in which he first appeared with articles whole 
and more comfortable, soon discovered that if she 
would secure his constant attendance, and ensure 
his presenting a respectable appearance at the school, 
she must provide a suit for that especial purpose 
and have him come to her house to array himself 
in it. It was an arrangement by no means dis- 
agreeable to the little fellow, for he liked anything 
184 . 



CHINKS OF CLANNYFOED. 185 

that took him there, and Mrs. Gray’s gentle, help- 
ful touch and always sweet voice were new and 
strange in his rude, wandering life. He liked being 
in the pleasant schoolroom, and seeing so many 
other children about him, so long as he was under 
such protection that they could neither tease nor 
annoy him, and he enjoyed, after his own fashion, 
the stories and the singing, though not always very 
clearly comprehending either. He was away from 
Sime too for the time, and that did not at all de- 
tract from his comfort. 

Peacefully, almost solemnly, still the wood 
seemed that day, so many of the blithe summer 
sounds were gone. The birds had all departed and 
only an occasional squirrel frisked along, wrapped 
in his coat of fur, yet the sunlight, so bright and 
warm, made the afternoon seem like a lingering 
glance of summer flashed in among the autumn 
days. Little Dan’s feet loitered sadly, making a 
detour first in one direction, then in another, to ex- 
amine every trivial object that caught his wander- 
ing eyes. He stopped to rest two or three times, 
stretching himself upon the trunk of some fallen 
tree, and lying idly with half-closed eyes, not so 
much from any feeling of weariness as because the 
solitude and the soft sunshine were pleasant and 


186 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFORD. 


the place to which he was going not particularly 
attractive. Now and then he surveyed somewhat 
longingly the large, rosy apple he carried, but he 
did not taste it. That and, three or four of its fel- 
lows that swelled his pockets had been given 
him, and he had stowed them away for a peace- 
olfering at home; without something of the kind 
it was not quite safe to present himself there after 
so long an absence. 

Slowly as he walked, the hut came in sight at 
last, with the smoke curling up from its rude chim- 
ney. Moll was sitting outside, dirty and forlorn 
as usual, weaving her willow baskets in a listless, 
lazy way. She looked up as the child approached, 
but her glance had in it neither pleasure nor the 
reverse, neither welcome nor question — nothing at 
all. Poor Moll’s eyes never did anything but see, 
and not so very much of that. 

It’s me,” said Dan, as if she might not be quite 
sure of the fact, throwing himself down upon the 
ground. 

Sime came to the door, and seeing him, pounced 
upon the apple at once. Here, gimme that !” he 
said, snatching it out of his hand. 

Inside the hut the old black kettle was swung 
over the fire, and maum ” was stewing the unin- 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFORD. 187 

viting medley that was to serve for supper. She 
came out when she heard Dan’s voice. 

What did ye bring ?” she demanded. 

He drew out the apples, one by one, and then, 
as her outstretched hand seemed to be waiting for 
something more, he added two small ginger cakes 
that he had secretly hoped to keep. 

Nothin’ more’n that ?” she asked. 

“ No,” answered Dan. 

She turned away, muttering something to herself, 
and evidently not very well satisfied, as she re- 
entered the hut and flung the child’s treasures 
down among the pieces of broken bread and meat 
that were lying on a wooden bench. 

Sime munched his apple greedily, eying Dan the 
while, and by the time he had swallowed the last 
mouthful, he had discovered something else that, he 
wanted. 

Where’d ye git that ’ere cap ?” 

Mis’ Gray gimme it ’cause t’other was all rag- 
ged,” answered Dan. 

Lemme see it,” drawled Sime. 

But Dan put both hands to his head and held 
fast to the cap, which, though rather too large for 
him, was a decided improvement upon the tat- 
tered affair that it had superseded. A sudden 


188 CHINKS OF CLANNYFOBD. 

sharp blow on the knuckles from a stick in the 
hands of the older boy made the little brown 
fingers quickly relinquish their grasp, however, and 
Si me, snatching the cap, placed it upon his own 
head. It was a trifle small, but it would answer 
his purpose. 

Ifll have this ’ere myself,” he remarked, and 
throwing his own old torn hat to Dan, he walked 
away. 

The little fellow view^ed the miserable exchange 
he had been forced to make rather disconsolately, 
but he offered no further resistance, neither, after 
the one exclamation of pain caused by the blow, 
did he cry. Such incidents were of too frequent 
occurrence for that ; he neither looked for nor ex- 
pected anything else. He only rubbed his still 
smarting fingers, looked after Sime’s retreating fig- 
ure, and then, with, a little sigh, resigned himself to 
the situation, and replacing his cap with Sime’s old 
hat, fell to thinking of other matters. He leaned 
back against a tree and after gazing around him, 
turned to watch Moll’s slow-moving fingers for a 
little w^hile. He did not dislike to be near the 
girl, for though she made no attempt at showing 
him kindness, she w^as the only one about the 
place from whom he never received blows or 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFOBD. 


189 


abuse ; she was at least unaggressive and indolently 
tolerant. 

Moll,” he said, at last, breaking the silence. 

^^Hey?” responded the girl, without looking 
up. 

They told us in that school Tout a man that 
was rich — had a big house, had gardens, an^ trees, 
an’ folks, an’ horses. There was poor folks that 
hadn’t got nothin’, an’ he didn’t like ’em, an’ went 
to kill their babies. I was a baby one time,” said 
Dan, pausing to remember the explanation that had 
been given him. One man took his baby an’ put 
it into a basket, put pitch on all over, so it wouldn’t 
leak, an’ stuck it out in the river. A woman found 
it. She had things like the rich man — houses an’ 
gardens ; she let the baby live in her house, an’ 
have clo’es an’ good dinners, till he growed up.” 

The child was still a few moments, with some 
fancy running through his ignorant childish brain 
of how it would seem to- live always in a house 
like Mrs. Gray’s, with such pleasure and comfort 
constantly about him as he enjoyed in those bright, 
brief Sabbath hours. 

I dunno,” he continued, more to himself than 
to his companion, however ; ^Gf I made a big wil- 
led basket an’ got into the river in it, would she 


190 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFORD. 


find me, an’ give me a house to live in, an’ nice 
things ?” 

^^Ye’d get drowned,” said Moll, indifferently, 
picking up a piece of willow. 

“ Mis’ Gray said God kept the baby from gettin’ 
drowned,” said Dan, reflectively. Moll,” he 
added, lying flat on the ground and looking up into 
the clear sky with brightening eyes, way up 
yonder there’s houses, pretty flowers an’ gold 
streets all ready for folks that go there. Ye don’t 
have to beg ’em, nor buy ’em, nor nothin’.” 

Hey ?” ejaculated Moll, uncomprehendingly. 

Won’t never be cold or hungry; won’t nobody 
ever hurt ye. He’ll take care of ye all the while,” 
pursued the child, evidently more intent on think- 
ing over what had been told him than with any 
idea of communicating it to another or thought of 
another’s listening. The girl scarcely seemed to 
listen, at least she betrayed no interest as she con- 
tinued her work in the old languid, listless way, 
hardly raising her eyes to glance about her. 

The sun sank lower and lower, and the rosy 
light faded away from the western sky while the 
childish eyes watched it. As the shadows began 
to gather, gloomy and dark, a wagon came rum- 
bling up one of the old forest roads — an old road 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFORD. 


191 


so seldom traveled now that the grasses had grown 
over it and the long branches of the trees almost 
met above it in some places. The rude conveyance, 
passing slowly along, seemed to accord well with 
the route it traveled in point of antiquity and 
neglect, so worn, dilapidated and creaking it was, 
and the poor gaunt animal that drew it needed no 
voice to tell of hard usage and meagre fare. The 
driver, a man whose straight black hair and tawny 
face were only half visible under the slouched hat 
he wore, drew up as the wagon emerged into the 
small open space near the hut and dismounted, 
fastening his horse to a tree — a most unnecessary 
precaution, as the poor animal did not manifest 
the least inclination to travel any farther. 

The sound of the approaching wheels had brought 
Si me from the woods and maum from the hut, and 
both approached the wagon. 

What ye got. Bill questioned the woman of 
the driver of the wagon. 

See, canT ye ?” responded the man, surlily, giv- 
ing the horse a parting kick and leaning back 
against a tree. 

Sime’s long fingers had already been busying 
themselves in lifting the ragged blanket that con- 
cealed the contents of the wagon, and he soon 


192 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFOBD. 


brought to view all there was — a few potatoes and 
turnips and a pair of fowls. 

^‘Them all?’^ demanded the woman, looking 
from the small load to Bill. 

^^Can^t ye see?^^ repeated Bill. Then he mut- 
tered in a lower tone something in which he ap- 
peared to be venting his dissatisfaction equally 
upon his “ ill luck and his questioner. 

Humph ejaculated maum, with a touch of 
contempt in her tone, and pushing the potatoes 
aside, she caught up the fowls and walked into the 
house. 

“ Fetch them ’ere in, you !” said the man, glan- 
cing angrily at Sime and pointing to the vege- 
tables. 

It was an order that by no means suited Sime’s 
indolence, but the one who gave it was larger and 
stronger than himself, and in his present mood not 
safe to provoke, so he prudently though sullenly 
obeyed. 

The man walked into the house, and maum pre- 
sently depositing the kettle of supper upon the 
ground — floor there was none — the party gathered 
eagerly and hurriedly around it, all but little Dan. 
He advanced more timidly, partly, perhaps, because 
having had one comfortable meal at Mrs. Gray’s that 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFOBD. 


193 


day made this appear less inviting, but more because 
he knew from experience that it would be likely to 
be a dark evening for him. Bill had returned from 
a three days^ expedition through the country with 
his moodiness and ill-temper at his want of success 
heightened by the liq^uor he had drank to console 
himself for it. Maum was dissatisfied because he 
had brought so little home and cross because the 
man was, and at such times the child feared them 
both and tried to keep out of the way of either. 
On the present occasion he ensconced himself be- 
tween Granny and Moll, but he was soon satisfied, 
and did not linger long. 

Dan’s been eatin’ nice dinners ; he don’t want 
none of ourn,” drawled Sime as soon as he was 
willing to stop eating long enough to say anything. 

Been eatin’ where ?” questioned Bill, ready to 
take offence at anything or nothing. 

^^’Mong them Sunday-school folks,” answered 
Sime. 

You sha’n’t go there no more,” said Bill, turn- 
ing angrily to the child. 

He’ll go more, then,” exclaimed Moll, with 
equal temper. He gits cold pieces, old clo’es an’ 
apples of ’em, an’ ye say he ain’t to fetch ’em ? 
He’ll go.” 

13 


194 CHINKS OF CLANNYFORI). 

He liaiii’fc begged much from ’em so far/’ mut- 
tered Bill. They’ll set him ag’in’ it ; it ain’t no 
use now.” 

Maum retorted by a not very flattering estimate 
of Bill’s own success in the begging and foraging 
line, and insisted that Dan’s visits to the Sabbath- 
school should not be interfered with. She knew 
that they obtained many things because of the in- 
terest felt for the child by his friends in the village, 
and as long as he did not come home empty-handed 
she was more than willing that he should go to the 
school, though it is scarcely probable that she would 
have consented to it but for that. 

Dan knew it, and in his sudden terror of losing 
this one pleasant thing out of his life, he forgot his 
present fear of those about him, and interposed 
eagerly : 

They’ll gimme never so many things, maum.” 

His remark was cut short by Bill, who turned 
angrily toward him, and catching him by the arm, 
showered blows thick and fast about his head, until 
he broke away from his captor and ran out of doors. 
Sime laughed, and maum continued her ill-tem- 
pered observations without seeming to notice the 
interruption. 

Through it all the old woman sat quietly on her 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFOBD. 


195 


broken, uncomfortable chair, seeming to take no 
notice of the wrath, blows or quarreling around 
her ; deaf and blind to it all she might have been, 
for any sign she gave. Strange thoughts hers must 
have been, if she thought at all — strange memories 
of the wild, wandering, vagrant life that had been 
hers, the scenes, the persons, the sorrows and the 
sins which had filled up the years through which 
she had come to this miserable old age. 

After a time Bill went out and unhitched the 
horse, turning him loose to provide for himself 
as he best could, with very little help from his 
owners. Then the wagon was drawn into a thicket 
that partially concealed it, and left to stand there 
until the supply of provisions giving out should 
necessitate another trip through the country to 
sell a few baskets and beg from the various farm- 
houses. 

Outside little Dan sat, gazing up at the starlit 
sky and vaguely dreaming of what lay beyond 
it, thinking of the new things of which he had 
but lately heard, and wishing, as he held his 
aching head, that some voice would call him to 
that strange, beautiful land — that some hand would 
show him the way thither. He shivered a little 
now and then in the chill night air, but he did 


196 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFORD. 


not leave his lonely nook until the last sound of 
voices had died away in the hut, the grumbling 
and quarreling stilled by the inmates lying down 
to sleep. He went softly to the door then, and 
surveyed the rude apartment as the flickering fire- 
light revealed it. Satisfied by what he saw, he 
turned for one farewell glance at the lovely, glit- 
tering stars and stole in noiselessly to nestle down 
in a corner among the rags and straw. 

Pain and fear were soon forgotten in the quiet 
slumber that came as well to him there as to many 
a more luxurious couch. Once asleep, he dreamed 
on, untroubled by his rude surroundings, while the 
gleaming firelight, keeping watch in the rude room, 
exhibited his innocent, childish face in strange con- 
trast to those older, coarser ones about him that 
were so marked by years and want, and something 
worse than either. Poor little waif! looking at 
him then, one would have thought it easy to pro- 
phesy his future: only a wretched, degraded life 
could lie before him. It seemed a hopeless spot 
for sowing precious seed, where noxious weeds were 
springing on every side, where no dew nor sunlight 
could come, and where the very air was a blight. 
Yet there were some who prayed for him, and un- 
promising as all his circumstances and influences 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFOBD. 


197 


seemed, counted it not labor lost to sow the seed 
as they might, and leave the rest with Him who 
sendeth the early and the latter rain. 

The other occupants of the hut were all astir 
when the little sleeper awoke the next morning, 
and he lay and watched them for a little while 
before he ventured out. Bill had in part slept 
off his intoxication and ill-temper, and maum, if 
not better natured, was at least more silent, than 
she had been the evening before. Having con- 
vinced himself on these important points, Dan 
crept from his nest and contrived to secure his 
share of the breakfast. 

^^You Dan, come along here,’^ said Sime, fas- 
tening two or three completed baskets together by 
a string. 

Where ye goin’ ?'*’ asked Dan. 

^^Goin’ to town with these ^ere; youVe got to 
go ^long,” replied Sime, rolling up an empty bag, 
not very clean, putting it under his arm and throw- 
ing the baskets over Dan’s shoulder. 

Dan did not quite fancy the prospect, but he 
made no objections, for that would have been 
worse than useless, and the two started off to- 
gether through the wood and out into the country 
road. The town was fully three miles distant, but 


198 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFORD. 


they visited it occasionally, taking now one street 
and now anotlier, but usually confining themselves 
to the suburbs and the more quiet streets, away 
from the crowded thoroughfares where appeals for 
charity were so constant as to afford them less 
chance for success. Dan did the most of the work 
when they were there, for Si me had a fashion of 
dodging around corners and keeping out of sight 
outside while he sent the little fellow into the 
houses to dispose of the willow work or beg. His 
own long limbs and lounging gait were provocative 
of suggestions to go to work which he did not care 
about hearing. 

The morning was bright and clear, and Dan, 
keeping the width of the road between himself and 
his companion, trudged on, gathering what enjoy- 
ment he could from the fresh air and the sunlight. 
Sime left him to his owm meditations until they 
were fairly in the city limits; then, according to 
his custom, he paused. 

See here ! you go to them houses an’ git what 
ye can. Mind, if they give ye somethin’ to eat, ye 
gimme some,” he said warningly. I’ll stay here.” 

The child obeyed, sauntering along more slowly 
as soon as tha turning of a corner had taken him 
out of Sime’s sight; he was in no binary to get back 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFOBJ). 


199 


to lilra. Nearly all the houses in that street were 
surrounded by yards, and entering one belonging 
to a pretty, ho me- like place, he made his way 
around to a back door and knocked. 

Want any wilier baskets?’^ 

No,’^ answered the servant who opened the 
door, glancing rather contemptuously at his 
wares. 

Got any cold pieces or old clones to gimme 

No ; we’re almost begged to death now !” re- 
sponded the girl, shortly, vexed at being called 
away from her work. E-un along, and shut the 
gate after you and she closed the door and dis- 
appeared. 

Too much accustomed to such rebuffs to think 
much about them, the child turned away to try his 
fortune farther on. The next time it was a little 
girl, sunny haired and blue eyed, that opened the 
door to his light rap. She laughed, a pleasant, 
childlike laugh, as she saw him, and said in an- 
swer to his inquiry : 

You are the littlest peddler I ever saw. Come 
in ; I’ll ask mamma.” 

Mamma was also interested in the little figure 
and the bright black eyes, and after some questions 
took one of his baskets, paying for it liberally in 


200 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFORB. 


bread and meat, which the little girl supplemented 
by some sweet crackers and two large apples. 

Those are for your ownself,’’ she said. 

Out of the cheerful, pleasant room the little 
wanderer passed, and into the street again. He 
liked looking in at windows as he passed along, 
catching glimpses of bright, beautiful homes and 
groups of happy children at play, but mingling 
with his admiration there was something of wonder 
too that he and they should be so unlike. Some- 
times they came to the door when he knocked, 
either to laugh at or pity him, but oftener he 
heard their merry voices sounding from inner 
rooms, knowing nothing of his petition or its re- 
fusal. Presently, at a large, handsome house stand- 
ing on the street, he paused in delight before a 
window filled with beautiful flowers. Blushing 
roses, delicate, drooping fuchsias, scarlet and white 
geraniums, were there, all blooming as if winter and 
frost were things unknown in the world. The lit- 
tle beggar stood and gazed at them with brighten- 
ing eyes. 

A well-dressed gentleman came up the street, 
and paused as he was about to ascend the steps 
of the house, watching the child with an amused 
and interested glance. 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFOBD. 


201 


^^Well, my little fellow?’’ he said, after a mo- 
ment’s pause. 

Dan started. 

Have you fallen in love with the flowers ?” 

^‘They’re nice,” answered the child; like 
’em.” 

^^So I see. You never saw anything like them 
before, I fancy,” said the gentleman, less as a ques- 
tion than an assertion, drawing his conclusions 
from the bag and baskets, that told their own story. 

Yes, good many,” replied Dan, decidedly, with 
a remembrance of Mrs. Gray’s garden. 

Whew ! you have ?” said the questioner, laugh- 
ing, and surveying the little fellow still more 
critically. ^^I’d like to know where they came 
from?” 

God made ’em,” answered the child, simply re- 
peating what he had been told, without a thought 
but that it might be new to the stranger, as it had 
been to him. 

A look of surprise flashed over the gentleman’s 
face. 

Humph ! Well, here’s a dime for you,” drop- 
ping the coin into the small brown hand held out 
to receive it. I guess you will have to be a gar- 
dener some day.” 


202 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFORD. 


What^s a gardener asked Dan, looking a little 
puzzled. 

^^You must have a garden of your own some 
day — a place with plenty of flowers in it.” 

I’m goin’ to,” answered the child, his dark eyes 
suddenly brightening. ^^Have house an’ gardens 
an’ flowers up there,” pointing toward the sky. 

Again that ex2:)ression, partly wonder and partly 
some deeper feeling, crossed the gentleman’s face, 
but this time he said nothing, only smiled faintly, 
a curious smile, as he passed up the steps. Dan 
walked on, richer with his one gleam of light than 
Dr. Williston with the full flood of glory he had 
darkened — lighter in his unenlightened but un- 
questioning faith than Dr. Williston in all his 
learned unbelief. 

Little ragamuffin ! How like the heir to a king- 
dom he talked !” muttered the doctor, pausing a 
moment beside the flowers as he entered his house 
before he took up the morning paper that was 
waiting for him. 

The child made his way back to Sime with his 
treasured bit of silver and what other things had 
been given him at the different places, and that 
ease-loving commander of the expedition took pos- 
session of the money at once, and emptying the con- 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFORD. 


203 


tents of the little bag into a larger one, accom- 
panied Dan to the head of another street and set 
him to work again. He established his own head- 
quarters, meanwhile, on the sunny side of an un- 
occupied building, where he would not be likely to 
attract much observation and could enjoy himself 
by doing nothing. 

It was a wearisome day to little Dan. Over and 
over again he told his simple story of Avhere he 
lived, and who he was, and what he wanted, and 
answered the many questions that were put to him. 
He w'andered on, sometimes kindly treated, some- 
times rudely driven away; now running, fright- 
ened, from some dog that resented his approach to 
its master’s premises, now hurrying his escape from 
some group of tormenting boys ; then lingering in 
some comfortable kitchen to which he had been 
admitted, unwilling to go out from its hospitable 
warmth and the light of kindly faces to the street 
once more. The little feet, accustomed as they 
were to tramping,” grew tired, and the small 
hand, knocking at so many doors, weary. He was 
glad when the round was completed and Si me, late 
in the afternoon, announced his intention of starting 
homeward. 

Sime divided the store they had gathered between 


204 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFORJ). 


the two bags, taking care not to give his com- 
panion the smaller portion to carry, then swing- 
ing his own over his shoulder, turned slowly in 
the direction they had come. Out of the city, fol- 
lowing the winding country road for a mile or two 
until they came to the old one that led through 
the wood, they went, Dan’s worn feet lagging 
somewhat toward the last, and finding it difficult 
to keep up with even Sime’s slow gait. 

We’ve got a good deal o’ things,” he said, at 
last, having been silently thinking over what they 
carried by way of estimating what reception they 
might expect at the hut. 

^^Yaas,” answered Sime, slowly, and reaching 
under his ragged coat, he drew forth a live fowl 
that had been concealed there in some manner best 
known to himself. 

It made its voice heard as soon as it emerged 
into the light. Dan’s eyes opened a little wider 
as they surveyed it, but he made no inquiries as to 
where it came from. Such questions were not cus- 
tomary among them, and, moreover, in his case, 
would have met no satisfactory answer. Sime 
viewed it with a little chuckle, but volunteered no 
explanation of how or where it came into his pos- 


session. 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFORD. 


205 


Arriving at the hut, maum met them and caught 
the bags out of their hands without waiting for 
either words or ceremony. She emptied out their 
contents with a monosyllabic ejaculation that ex- 
pressed something like satisfaction, however, as she 
saw how much there was, and Dan threw himself 
down in one corner with a little sigh of relief. 

The supper that evening was made from a part 
of what they had collected — the largest and strong- 
est of the party coming in for the largest portion 
and daintiest pieces — but our tired little wanderer 
was well contefit to take what he could get and 
creep away to the place that served as a bed, to rest 
and sleep once more. There were so many such 
days in his life, so few that were any better, that it 
was little wonder that he prized the few hours 
spent in the village with those who were kind to 
him there. 



CHAPTER X. 


N the large, light kitchen of the Mead farm- 
house Vernie sat, with sleeves looped up 
from her white arms, busying herself 
in seeding raisins, chopping mincemeat 
and pounding spices, which, passing from her 
hands into older and more experienced ones, were, 
by some unknown magic of compounding, made 
to emerge from the oven in the form of tempting 
pies and cakes. Mrs. Mead moved about through 
all the making and directing, cheerful, bright and 
motherly, while Tildy flew hither and thither in a 
desperate hurry, making any amount of rattling 
and clattering in her fruitless efforts to do two 
things at once. 

Oh, I always like Thanksgiving and all the 
getting ready for it, it’s so nice !” said Yernie, in 
the full delight of her helping and watching. 

Well, I don’t know,” responded Tildy, rather 
doubtfully. Thanksgivin’ is good enough in its 

way — I’ve got nothin’ agin’ it, as I know on — but 

206 



CHINKS OF CLANNYFOBD. 


207 


it does make a sight of stewin’, cookin’ and dishes 
to wash.” 

“But I think that’s just the fun,” persisted 
Vernie. 

“That’s ’cause you don’t have it to do,” an- 
swered Tildy. 

The imputation of such an ignoble cause for 
her pleasure, together with the apparent slight put 
upon her assistance, rather discomfited the young 
lady for a moment, then she looked up, met her 
mother’s eyes and smiled. 

“ Mother likes it too,” she said. 

The mother smiled an answer, with a tender, 
half-pitying thought, as she glanced at the bright 
yoifng face, of how little while it would be before 
these eagerly- welcomed holidays would be no 
longer unmixed pleasure. Only a little while 
longer, and the girl would have entered upon her 
human birthright of a past and its memories, and 
there would begin the sad undertone that runs for 
evermore through all earthly music. Under the 
smiling welcome for those who came would linger 
the heart’s longing for those it missed ; among the 
real faces would flit shadowy, haunting ones, and 
the laughing, pleasant voices, however dear, ring 
strangely into the silence that should be filled by 


208 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFORD. 


other voices not less dear. But not yet — not now, 
when for her 

“No dear face was farther than the door, 

No loved one beyond call.” 

So the mother only smiled, and kept her thought 
unspoken. 

You see,’^ said Tildy, meditatively, “ this ap- 
pointin’ a day to be thankful in is all well enough, 
but there’s such a sight of worry an’ fuss a 
gettin’ ready to be thankful, an’ such a bother of 
clearin’ up after you’re through with it, that I 
don’t know — Well, it’s a ’mazin’ good thing for 
poor folks. I’ll say that for it !” she added, ab- 
ruptly, as her eyes fell upon two baskets nicely 
filled and standing upon the table. There’s some 
folks will be glad there’s been so much cookin’ 
goin’ on.” 

^^You can count me as one of those same as- 
tonishing folks,” said Lewis, making his appear- 
ance at the door in time to catch the last words. 

Mother, Jas and I are going to the d^pot to 
meet uncle and Kent, if they come on the after- 
noon train.” 

Mr. Graham and Kent always spent Thanks- 
giving at the farmhouse, although the former 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFORD, 


209 


seldom visited there at any other time. It was 
not that he cared little for the place or its inmates 
— more, perhaps, because he cared so much. It 
was the old homestead of the Meads, and Robert 
Graham had first met his wife there. Thither he 
had been wont to return with her, in the glad years 
that her life made bright, to family reunion and 
festival, and there he had borne her, at last, to sleep 
with her kindred. Every nook of the old home 
was, for him, linked with memories of her — asso- 
ciations holding such sorrow in their depths of 
tenderness that he did not dare to turn away from 
his ordinary life to face them often. 

Mr. and Mrs. Mead, knowing something of the 
wealth of love that had been lavished upon his 
wife, understood his feelings in part, and won- 
dered less than the younger members of the family at 
his infrequent visits, and coming or staying he held 
always his own place — he was always Brother 
Robert. It told something for the truth and 
sterling worth of each that when the golden link 
that had bound them together dropped away from 
their lives, this friendship, unostentatious, but deep 
and earnest, unquestioning and unchanging, re- 
mained. 

One sore bereavement he had known, but, aside 
14 


210 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFORD. 


from that, everything that earth could bestow was 
Kobert Graham’s — wealth, intellect, position, repu- 
tation — yet Mrs. Mead’s true, tender heart always 
thought of him with a kind of anxious pity. 
Year after year she looked into his eyes, hoping to 
find a new expression there — something that should 
tell her that Helen’s faith was his, that at last he 
had seen the stars shine through his cypress trees.” 
But it seemed long waiting, and this year was like 
the others. 

^^Do I look older, uglier, wickeder? — which is 
it, Hetty ?” he asked, still holding her hand in a 
warm clasp, but laughing a little at her earnest 
glance. 

“ A little older, perhaps, not the other — not the 
last, I hope,” she answered, smiling. But under 
the smile a sadder voice repeated with a sigh, 
'^Not yet,” and then faith, unwavering, took up 
its silent prayer again. 

Open fires made every room in the old house 
bright, warm and cheerful, lighting up the walls, 
gleaming on the polished surface of the heavy, 
old-fashioned mahogany and bringing a glow to 
the faces in the old portraits — quaint old portraits 
that, despite stiff attitudes, odd dresses and all the 
wear and tear of time that had come to them and 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFOFD. 211 

their originals, still held a slight resemblance to 
some of the living faces below them. But invit- 
ing and bright as the rooms were, they could not 
long content the boys. What house was ever large 
enough long to contain the amount of restless life 
represented by three boys ? They had been over 
it, from the cellar where the apples were stored to 
the attic where they hoarded their own peculiar 
treasures, and were out of doors before long. They 
explored the new granary, visited the stables, 
petted the horses and then wandered away through 
the dismantled orchard, and across the brown stub- 
ble-fields, to the lake side. 

The water, bright and sparkling as it was in the 
summer-time, looked dull and cold under the gray 
November sky, and the distant shore showed 
through its veil of mist barren and dreary, while 
the moaning wind, sounding colder than it felt, 
swept down from the hillside. The dreary deso- 
lateness of the scene mirrored something of itself 
upon the spirits of those who gazed upon it, though 
but faintly. It could not bring to them the fast 
crowding memories that older hearts would have 
known — death in life, the days that are no 
more!’’ — nor interpret the wind’s wailing into a 
cry of “gone, gone!” It only brought a vague 


212 


CHINKS OF OLANNYFOBD. 


shadow, uncompreliended, thrown forward from 
the future, rather than backward from the past. 

An old boat lay upturned on the pebbly beach, 
and they seated themselves upon it, silent at first, 
and when conversation began again, it dropped into 
a quieter, more thoughtful tone. 

“ How thick the mist is growing along the other 
shore said Jasper, after watching it for a few min- 
utes. It will hide it altogether soon, and leave 
us as if we were looking out on an ocean with no 
land in sight.^’ 

I wish it were the ocean,’’ said Lewis, quickly ; 
^Hhough,” he added after a moment, ^Hhat 
wouldn’t do me any good, either ; I should want to 
be beyond it.” 

And what would you do there?” Kent asked. 

“ Oh, I don’t know — everything or anything. I 
just want to see the world. It isn’t half living, 
shut up on this little farm, and I don’t mean to 
stay here very much longer.” 

Going to tie your bundle up in a pocket-hand- 
kerchief and sling it on a stick over your shoulder, 
like the enterprising boys we read about in the 
newspapers ?” asked Kent. 

“ Or those fellows that slip out of chamber-win- 
dows at night and run away to sea? Well, I don’t 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFOED. 


213 


know as I’d mind very much — there would be 
some fun and adventure about it ; only,” catching 
Jasper’s^ glance, I wouldn’t treat father and mother 
after any such fashion. You needn’t look at me so, 
Jas: I don’t mean to do it; but if they were like 
some people I know of, I’d be off in a hurry and 
the boy’s dark eyes flashed. 

One might think you wished they were, just to 
give you a chance, by the way you talk. Lew,” an- 
swered his brother, a little indignantly. 

I didn’t say so,” said Lewis, picking up a stone 
and whirling it out into the water. He watched 
it as it went plashing down and the ever-widening 
circles that swept around the spot, then, after a mo- 
ment, said more slowly: ^‘It’s such a quiet, dull 
way to live, this seeing always the same things, do- 
ing always the same old work, over and over again. 
If, as that lecturer that was here the other day was 
saying, every one’s future lies before him like a 
block of marble for him to shape, I’d like to cut 
something new out of mine, I’m sure.” 

Every one must build, one way or another,” 
said Kent, his thoughts going back to one of Aunt 
Gray’s twilight talks. 

“Well, what are you building?” asked Lewis, 
suddenly. 


214 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFOED. 


The question was unexpected, and Kent paused 
a moment to consider. 

‘^Not much of anything by myself, I believe,’’ 
he said, ^^only trying to help along a little in what 
others are doing — filling up the chinks.” 

A bucket of mortar would do that,” said I^ewis, 
laughing, but a little contemptuously. 

Kent smiled, his own frank, sunny smile. 

Well, I’ll be a bucket of mortar, then. What 
is the difference, so long as the building goes up?” 

It would make some difference to me,” Lewis 
answered. Ko ; this sort of life is all good and 
nice and honorable enough for those that like it — 
I don’t say it isn’t — but it don’t suit me. I want 
more excitement, adventure and change, to get out 
into the world and take my chance for going up 
or down. If I had plenty of money, wouldn’t I 
travel, though ! I’m not so very fond of learning 
from books — it takes Jas to do that — but I like 
to see things and find out for myself what they’re 
like.” 

^^So he is going to take the reality and leave 
you the books, Jasper,” said his cousin. 

“ All right — if I can only get enough of them,” 
Jasper replied ; I’d rather go to college than over 
the ocean, a great deal, and I shouldn’t wonder 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFOBD. 


215 


if my chances were rather better for it than Lew’s 
are to do the other.” 

I don’t know about that,” said Lewis, reso- 
lutely. /^If I don’t like farming, why, I’m not 
fit for a farmer. Father will say so himself when 
he finds I am not content to stay here. Just wait 
a little while and you will see;” and he sprang 
from his seat and sent another stone whirling out 
over the water. 

He was older than Kent by nearly a year, a 
little taller and considerable heavier. He was not 
so handsome, perhaps, but still there was a certain 
boyish grace about his strong, healthful form, as 
he stood there, so full of restless life and energy. 
His face, brown as a nut from sun and wind, and 
his brown eyes, with an impatient light in them, 
just now, spoke him what he was — impulsive, fiery 
and not easily controlled, yet warm-hearted and 
generous too. 

His brother was like and yet singularly unlike- 
him. There was the same cast of features, but in 
some way softer and gentler; the same broad brow, 
but paler and more thoughtful ; the same dark eyes, 
but with a steadier, more dreamy light in them. 
He was younger, smaller, more slender. Strangers 
often Remarked that they bore a strong resemblance 


216 CHINKS OF CLANNYFOBI). 

to each other, while intimate friends could scarcely 
see any. 

There was a moment’s silence, broken only by 
the sound of the stones striking the water, for 
Lewis sent one after another in rapid succession, 
until the bosom of the lake seemed quivering and 
heaving with something like the restless, bounding 
life of his own. Then he turned, and said a little 
hesitatingly, as if not quite able to express his 
thought in words, and feeling something of boyish 
dread, besides, that it might sound fanciful or senti- 
mental, or something of that sort which a boy so 
despises : 

I don’t know why it is, but some way it seems 
as if this kind of a day always stirs up all the 
restless there is in me. The wind goes rushing 
along as if it were some great army sweeping out 
into the world to do all sorts of mighty things, 
and I want to be out in it, to go — to do — well, 
• I don’t know what, only it makes me uneasy, and 
I feel as though I couldn’t keep still. 1 know it’s 
all nonsense, but-r- There it comes now ! just hear 
it !” pausing as the wind swept down from the hill- 
side and rushed by them with its strange, weird, 
solemn sound. 

^^Yes; isn’t it grand? and it’s awful too!” an- 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFORD. 


217 


swered Jasper, dreamily. But it doesn’t so much 
make me feel like doing as it makes it seem that 
there isn’t hardly anything worth doing — things 
that I care about usually, I mean. They all look 
so little and empty and not worth much, as if 
such a wind would sweep them all away, and was 
hurrying the world and everylx)dy in it on to the 
end. I can’t tell exactly what I mean ; only some 
way it makes me think of that dirge in some of 
the old Keaders : 

‘ But a day is coming fast, 

Earth, tliy mightiest and thy last ; 

It will come in fear and wonder, 

Pleralded by trump and thunder.’ ” 

“ Isn’t it strange,” said Kent, how the same 
things will make different persons think of such 
different things? I remember Aunt Gray’s once 
saying that every storm that came and every wind 
that blew seemed to her to be saying, ^ For Christ’s 
sake, for Christ’s sake,’ and every blessing that 
came to the world was because he had loved it and 
died for it. But then,” added Kent, thoughtfully, 
it always seemed to me as if she herself were just 
living for his sake.” 

^^If I felt like that,” said Jasper, slowly, gazing 

out over the water, I don’t think anything would 
19 


218 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFORD. 


ever sound mournful or dreary to me — at least, I 
shouldn’t ever be afraid of anything. Don’t you 
wish — ” 

“Jas,” interrupted Lewis, turning suddenly 
toward him with a quickness in his tone that did 
not seem quite natural, ‘^you are getting hoarse. 
If your cough is worse to-night, mother will blame 
113 both for not using better sense than to sit out 
here in the cold, and give you such a dose of herb 
tea, as won’t be good to take, besides. Come, Kent, 
let us go back.” 

Mr. Graham, sitting by a window, saw them as 
they came toward the house. 

Those young gentlemen that you were won- 
dering about are coming now, Hetty, safe and 
sound. How Lewis and Jasper have grown ! 
Kent has been doing the same, I suppose, but I 
notice the change more in them, not having seen 
them for a year. What do you suppose we shall 
make of those boys ?” he said, laughing. 

I hope God will make good, true, noble men 
of them all,” answered Mrs. Mead, earnestly, from 
the depths of her mother’s heart. 

Yes. It will not take many years now to 
make them men of some sort. By the way,” 
turning toward his brother-in-law, “you were 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFOBD. 


219 


speaking of ray keeping the rail! running this 
winter : that was Kent’s doing. There is no profit 
in keeping it going just now, except what little 
there may be in keeping the workmen together, 
but Kent had become so interested in some of them 
that he could not bear to think of their being all 
turned out of employment. He insisted upon 
looking at the matter from their point of view, and 
was so eloquent and disconsolate that he had his 
own w^ay, as he generally does — rather too often, 
perhaps. I don’t regret it in this case, however, 
though I can’t say much for the economy of the 
arrangement.” 

I don’t know about that, Robert ; I’m not so 
sure about that,” answered the farmer, slowly shak- 
ing his head. When hard times oblige us to 
economize, it is a great deal better to begin with 
our own pudding than with somebody’s else bread 
and butter.” 

Economy, like charity, should begin at home, 
you think?” and Mr. Graham smiled pleasantly 
and inquiringly on his brother-in-law. “ That 
would certainly make this an easier world for 
many people to live in.” 

The boys came in, and Jasper stood beside his 
mother’s chair for a moment, his hand resting upon 


220 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFOED. 


it. She looked up at him with something of re- 
proof ill her glance : 

^^You ought not to have been out so long this 
cold day with that cough of yours, Jasper ; not 
even a tippet about your neck, either ; it was very 
thoughtless 

Oh, I didn’t need it any ; I wasn’t cold, and I 
did tie my handkerchief about my throat coming 
home,” he answered, unfastening the article and 
slipping it carelessly into his pocket. Suddenly he 
started and pulled it hastily out again : Oh, I 
forgot ! Really, it is too bad, mother, but I never 
once thought of it !” 

Thought of what ?” she asked. 

^^I’ll show you in a minute — a letter for you. 
Here it is,” dropping it into her lap. I got it out 
of the office when Lew and I were going to the 
d^pot, and seeing uncle and Kent made me forget 
all about it until I just now felt it in my pocket. 
It is odd that I didn’t remember it, because I was 
wondering a little where it came from ; it was a 
queer post-mark, and I didn’t know the writing.” 

I don’t know it either,” said Mrs. Mead, scan- 
ning the envelope somewhat curiously, and then 
breaking it open. Her glance wandered over the 
page for a moment, sought the sigrtature; then, 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFOED. 


221 


with a look of pleasure and surprise, she turned to 
her husband : 

^^It is from Cousin Herbert, Nathan — Herbert 
Austin.” 

‘^Herbert Austin! Well, it is not wonderful 
that you did not recognize the writing. Why, it is 
nine or ten years since we have heard from him. 
You never knew him, I think, Robert? — a cousin 
of Mrs. Mead’s, who used to be with us quite 
often sixteen or seventeen years ago. He has been 
a great rover since then, and it has been a long 
time that we have not even heard from him. The 
last we knew, he had gone to the Sandwich Islands 
with his wife and child.” 

‘‘And he h there still,” said Mrs. Mead, “but 
his daughter is here — in the State, I mean. He 
has sent her to a school at Hudson, and wishes 
that any of us going to the city should call and 
see her, and also that we will allow her to make 
her home with us during her vacations. He writes 
that he is sorry that she could not have come to 
us first, but he was unable to leave home himself, 
and so placed Lucy in charge of a friend who 
could accompany her no farther than to the school 
in Hudson.” 

“ Wants you to call and see her w^hen you go to 


222 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFORD. 


the city? Why, you don’t go there oftener than 
once in two or three years !” commented Jasper. 

His father laughed. 

“He has forgotten that farmers do not very 
often travel even fifty miles from home. How- 
ever, we must try to do it before long, for the 
sake of making the young lady’s acquaintance, so 
that it may not be quite like coming among strangers 
when she comes to us for the holidays.” 

“ At Christmas ? Do you think she will be here 
then, mother?” exclaimed Yernie, in a tone that 
expressed something of pleasure, and yet a little 
of dismay also. 

“I hope so, if they have a vacation then, as 
almost every school does. I am sure she will be 
heartily welcome, will she not, Yernie?” 

“ Yes — oh yes ! I think it will be nice to have 
her here; only — well — she is a little older than 
I am, isn’t she? and I was just thinking that if 
she should know so much, and be so very lady- 
like — ” Yernie hesitated. 

“ And what then ?” asked Mr. Graham, passing 
his arm around her. “I do not know what ad- 
vantages this young lady may have had, Yernie, 
but I think your mother’s daughter ought to be a 
lady in the highest, truest sense of the word.” 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFORD. 


223 


Vernie’s eyes sparkled, and she glanced over to 
where her mother was sitting. She is splendid, 
isn’t she?” she said, in a burst of loving en- 
thusiasm. 

I think she is,” answered Mr. Graham, laugh- 
ing a little to see the soft flush rise to the mother’s 
still smooth cheek. 

^^But then,” pursued Yernie, after a moment’s 
pause, I am not as nice nor half as good as my 
mother is. I don’t believe Lucy Austin is either, 
but then she may know a great deal more than I 
do, and be — Well, I hardly know what; only she 
has always lived in a city, I suppose.” 

If you think city life such an advantage, wdiy 
don’t you try to improve by paying us a visit oc- 
casionally ?” asked her uncle, pushing the shining 
curls back from her face. We should be very 
glad to have you come and brighten up the old 
house a little, wouldn’t we, Kent ?” 

“Indeed we would,” answered Kent, eagerly. 
He felt it sometimes, the want in his beautiful 
home, where no mother’s face ever looked from 
the window or smiled at the table, where no sis- 
ter’s light step ever sounded, and wondered if 
Lewis and Jasper really knew how rich they were. 

“ I hope Lucy will know a good deal, for my 


224 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFOED. 


part/’ said Lewis, meditatively, ^^and be a real 
nice, sensible girl that can tell us all about the 
people and how they live at the Sandwich Islands. 
There are any amount of things I’d like to ask her « 
about. Heigho ! I wish I could go and see for 
myself !” 

His father only smiled, but the mother’s eyes 
turned toward her boy anxiously; they followed 
him often with that glance, yet smiled whenever 
he turned to meet them. O loving, watchful 
mother-eyes, what tireless guardianship they keep 
the wide world over ! 



CHAPTER XI. 

T was a stormy day, with a cloudy sky bend- 
ing over the earth and shutting out the sun, 
a cold wind rattling the leafless branches of 
the trees and snow falling in fitful showers 
— a dreary day as seen from the windows of warm, 
bright rooms, but drearier far at the little hut in 
the woods. It was dark and gloomy within, 
except as the fire lighted it, for the pieces of old 
quilts and blankets that had been hung over the 
window openings to keep out the cold excluded 
the light also. Even then the place was not com- 
fortably warm, for the wind found ingress through 
various cracks and crevices, and occasionally swept 
down the not very skillfully constructed chimney, 
and whirled the smoke in such stifling volumes 
out into the room that the inmates w’ere forced to 
open the door to let it escape, however the cold 
might rush in. 

Adding fresh fuel to the fire, stirring it into a 
fiercer blaze and crouching and shivering around 
15 225 



226 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFOBD. 


it in various attitudes were those who called the 
miserable place home. The old woman, silent and 
insensible-seeming as ever to all about her, occupied 
her accustomed seat in her accustomed position, bent 
nearly double, her elbows resting upon her knees, 
her chin supported by her hands. Si me had en- 
sconced himself on the old tub, as near as possible 
to the fire, and having secured the warmest position 
the place alforded, seemed determined not to be 
moved from it. He was apparently well satisfied 
to have nothing to do but watch the dancing, flash- 
ing blaze. Moll sat near him with the lazy willow 
weaving that seemed almost a part of her, her lean 
brown fingers moving so slowly that they scarcely 
seemed working at all. Bill was stretched upon 
the rags and straw, somewhat stupid and not a 
little cross from the liquor he had been drinking. 
He had been lying about for three or four days, 
scarcely showing himself outside the hut, and 
nearly all that time a quarrel had been raging be- 
tween him and maum. Dan, from his obscure 
corner, watching them both with his great black 
eyes, could not quite understand what it was about. 
It was something that Bill had been engaged in 
on his last trip — had done or neglected to do — that 
might bring him into trouble, and made him think 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFORD. 


227 


it not safe to go out, he fancied, but he was too 
wise to ask any questions. \Yhatever it was, 
niaum kept alluding to it either angrily or taunt- 
ingly, and Bill would answer sometimes fiercely 
and sometimes sulkily, while the child, fearing 
them both, kept as much as possible out of the 
reach of either of them. 

Bill seemed to be sleeping heavily the greater 
part of this day, rousing up occasionally, however, 
to mutter out something about the fire or grumble 
his dissatisfaction when the door was opened, and 
ordering Dan out two or three times to gather up 
and bring in more fuel. It was growing late in 
the afternoon when maum announced that some 
one must go out and try to sell MolFs one com- 
pleted basket and beg some cold pieces. 

Hainh got nothin’ t’eat much,” she said, com- 
posedly. Go, an’ somebody’ll give ye somethin’, 
Sime.” 

I ain’t a goin’ to — Dan must,” responded Sime, 
indolently. 

No,” answered Dan, disconsolately, shrinking 
farther back into his corner. 

Yaas, ye be goin’ arter cold pieces — quick !” 
said Sime. 

‘^It’s too cold,” urged Dan, piteously, with a 


228 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFORD. 


glance half appealing, half apprehensive, toward 
maum. But she appeared wholly uninterested in 
the conversation, satisfied to let Sime arrange the 
matter as pleased him. 

“If ye don’t start. I’ll wake Bill,” said Sime 
again, making a motion in the direction of the 
sleeper. Dan started up in terror lest the threat 
should be carried out, and Sime settled himself 
again with a little chuckle of satisfaction. 

The child lifted a corner of the tattered quilt 
from one of the windows and looked out. It was 
so cold and stormy that he drew back, shivering, 
to the fire again, and lingered there even after 
maum had provided bag and basket, making his 
arrangements so very slowly that Sime repeated his 
threat, and thus obliged him to start. 

It seemed a long, long distance that day that 
lay between him and the village. The snow was 
lying thick and white on the path, and found its 
way readily to his feet through their miserable 
covering. The storm had increased within the last 
hour, and the flakes were falling thick and fast, 
while the driving wind hurled it into his face and 
eyes in a blinding shower. He turned, sometimes, 
and walked with his back toward it, for a few mo- 
ments, to recover his breath, but that was making 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFORD. 


229 


slow progress, and he found himself wandering from 
the path, first on one side, and then on the other. 
Indeed, it was not quite easy to keep it, walk which 
way he would, for it was but a narrow one and 
covered with snow, while the now dismantled trees 
and broken bushes left almost equal openings on 
all sides. Still, he knew the direction in which 
the village lay, and pressed forward, striving to 
encourage himself with thoughts of the cheerful 
warmth that would meet him at Mrs. Gray^s or 
in old Hannah’s comfortable kitchen at Mr. Grail’s. 
He wrapped the bag maum had given him about 
his shoulders, and finally slipped the willow basket 
over his head, tipping it a little so that he could 
see where he was going. It was a slight shield 
from the cutting wind, but was constantly sliding 
down over his face, and aiforded no warmth to his 
aching ears. He tried to warm them by holding 
his hands over them, but the poor little fingers were 
soon almost freezing in their turn when withdrawn 
from the pockets where they had sought shelter. 
Then he ran as fast as his stiffening, aching feet 
would carry him, until, fairly out of breath, he was 
obliged to stop and lean against a tree to rest. 

Tears started to his eyes, forced out by keen 
pain. He had walked a long distance from the 


230 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFORD. 


hut — or it seemed so in that storm — but even if 
he had not, he dared not go back; they would 
only drive him out again, he knew. So, after a 
moment or two, he started on once more. Pictures 
of the bright, cozy room he had so often seen rose 
before him as visions of water, cool streams and 
clear fountains come to the thirsty traveler in the 
desert. He saw old Hannah’s brightly-scoured tins 
hanging in shining rows on the wall ; heard the fire 
roaring and crackling in the great black stove, and 
even the purring of the gray cat stretched com- 
fortably beside it. Then he fancied he could see 
the pretty carpet at Mrs. Gray’s, the soft hearth- 
rug before the open fire and the plants in the deep 
window-seat. 

He emerged from the woods into the open 
country road after a time, walking more and more 
slowly. His first intense sutFering from the cold 
had passed away, and he only felt tired — so tired. 
If he could only lie down on that soft hearth-rug 
of Mrs. Gray’s ! 

She’ll lerame lay down there an’ sleep, mebby — 
ain’t wantin’ nothin’ to eat, like I did,” he mur- 
mured faintly, and sat down to think about it. 

Some dim thought of his errand came to him 
again, and maum’s anger if he lingered, and he 



Little Dan in the Snow Storm. 


Page 230. 





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CHINKS OF CLANNYFOBD. 


231 


rose and staggered on a little farther. But the 
terrible weariness soon conquered, and he sank 
down once more and, after a moment, lay back 
on the snow and closed his eyes, while the white 
flakes fell thick and fast, but very softly, over him. 
Poor little Dan ! never before, lying down to sleep, 
had he known such gentle covering. 

That same afternoon Miss Crail sat in her little 
parlor alone, save as Hannah passed in and out 
for question or consultation. It was a pretty, 
tasteful room, with its cozy lounges and easy-chairs, 
its pictures and books, vases and brackets. The 
little slender woman, occupying a low chair in the 
glow of the firelight, was in perfect keeping with 
her surroundings. She was not beautiful, not even 
pretty, but there was a certain delicate grace about 
her, manifest in her figure, movement, dress, 
twined in the braids of her soft brown hair, lurk- 
ing in the simple white lace at her throat, and 
touching even her slender slippered foot, that 
marked her, beyond all possibility of mistaking, a 
lady. Time and sorrow and thought had chiseled 
that quiet, earnest face of hers, but they had done 
it exquisitely, bringing out its sweetness, peace and 
purity in clearly-cut lines. 

She laid aside her work at last, in smiling com- 


232 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFORD. 


pliaiice with Hannah’s oft repeated advice : Better 
not try doin’ dem button-holes dis dark arternoon, 
Miss Marfa, ’deed ye hadn’t; dey’s too tryin’ to 
de eyes.” Then she had taken up a book, but 
dropped it in her lap presently, because it was 
growing dark so fast, and sat gazing into the glow- 
ing coals with thoughtful eyes, while the shadows 
deepened without. 

‘‘’Pears like it’s gwine to be a drefful stormy 
night,” said Hannah, bringing in fresh fuel. “ Folks 
wid good houses ’doughter be t’ankful, dey had ! 
’Spect I’d better make some warm muffins for tea, 
so’s to hab somfin’ hot an’ cheery like. Sha’n’t I 
shet dem shutters now. Miss Marfa?” 

Miss Crail walked to the windows, and pressing 
her face against the glass, looked out into the dusky 
twilight. Only gloom and storm and cold ! One 
could scarcely gaze out into such a night and not 
grow sad. She turned away in a moment. 

“ Yes, Hannah, you may close them.” 

But before she could obey a sled drove up, and 
a man’s voice was heard calling to his horses ; then 
came a loud knock at the door, and Hannah has- 
tened to answer it. 

“Is Mr. Crail at home?” 

“ Not jes yet ; be in d’rec’ly, I ’spect,” she an- 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFORD. 


233 


swered, shading her eyes with her hand and peer- 
ing out into the gathering darkness to discover who 
spoke to her. ‘^Better come in an’ wait, hadn’t 
ye?” 

“Yes; I want to see him, and there’s a bundle 
out there on my sled that I must bring in. You 
keep the door open a minute and hold that light 
so 1 can see;” and he sprang off the step and down 
the walk again. 

“Not berry polite wid his bundle,” commented 
Hannah, in a low tone. She complied with his 
directions, nevertheless, and in a moment the man re- 
appeared bearing something in his arms, and brush- 
ing past her, walked straight into the brightly-light- 
ed parlor and deposited his burden upon the floor. ! 

“ It’s some youngster I found by the roadside 
half buried up in the snow, and whether he is 
living or dead I can’t say,” he said, noticing Miss 
Grail’s startled glance. “ I don’t know who he is 
or where he’s from, and I’m afraid he’ll never be 
able to tell, but we must try and see if there is 
any life in him.” 

“Hat’s yer bundle, is it? Well, dar, now!” 
said Hannah, in amazement. “ No wonder ye was 
in such a drefful hurry gettin’ him in, poor chile !” 
and she was on her knees beside him in a moment. 


234 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFOBD. 


Queer rig he is in — a basket hitched over his 
head/^ said the man. There! now it’s off!” 

Oh, it is little Dan !” exclaimed Miss Grail, in 
a tone of horror and pity, as the light fell full on 
the still, cold face. 

“ Oh, dat poor little lamb ! so ’tis, sure !” echoed 
Hannah, her hands for an instant dropping help- 
lessly. 

You know him, then ?” the stranger questioned. 

found him by the road not far from the old 
wood. If it had been a little later, I should not 
have seen him at all ; as it was, I just caught sight 
of something dark sticking out of the snow. I 
thought it looked a little queer, so I jumped off 
the sled and went to it, and found this little fellow. 
I was coming to see Mr. Grail, anyway, and so I 
thought the best thing I could do was to bring 
him right here as fast as I could. I’m glad you 
know who he is.” 

’Deed we does. Mos’ ebberybody round Glan- 
nyford knows little Dan. Poor chile ! out in such 
a storm as dis yere!” answered Hannah, going 
busily to work to remove the worn shoes and loosen 
his scant clothing. 

Miss Grail brought warm blankets, and they 
bathed and rubbed the cold form, chafed the stiff- 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFORD. 


235 


ened fingers, and applied every restorative within 
their power. The stranger looked on anxiously. 

If he has any folks anywhere around here that 
ought to be told, why, I’m willing to go and let 
them know. My team is at the door yet, if you 
think I had best go for any one,” he said. 

Miss Crail hesitated for a moment. 

I think not,” she answered, slowly. No ; 
there is no one that will be troubled about him.” 

I jes’ wish Mrs. Gray was here,” said Hannah, 
uneasily, a little later. ’Pears like she knows so 
much ’bout sick folks.” 

“ It is such a stormy night that I scarcely know 
how she could get here,” Miss Crail replied, yet 
with a tone in her voice that echoed the old colored 
woman’s wish. 

Hannah caught it, and pressed her suggestion 
eagerly. 

“’Tain’t so berry fur neither, if dis gemrnan 
would jes’ go fur her wid his sleigh. Ye’d feel 

sight better to hab her here. Miss Marfa, honey, 
I knows ye would.” 

If there’s any one round here that you’d like, 
ma’am, or think could do the boy any good, I’m 
willing to go for them,” interposed the stranger, in 
his brusque but kindly way. Just say the word.” 


236 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFORD. 


And longing for Mrs. Gray’s advice and assist- 
ance, though not without misgivings at calling 
her out in such a storm, Miss Grail accepted his 
proposition and directed him where to go. 

Tell her it is little Dan, and she will under- 
stand,” she said as he drove away. 

It w'as but a very few moments before he re- 
turned, his mission successfully accomplished, and 
Mrs. Gray, gentle, tender and motherly, was ready 
to go quietly and understandingly to work. 

Soon Mr. Grail came in, and paused at the door 
in astonishment at the scene that met him in his 
usually quiet home. His sister came to him with 
a few words of explanation. 

^^Ah, that little odd mite of humanity, is it? 
Shameful to have sent him out such a day as this ! 
It is about all that could be expected, however, 
and I don’t know but it is just as well if it does 
finish him. He is living, though,” he added, 
glancing at the child more closely. 

Yes,” Miss Grail answered, in a lower tone, 
for the boy began to revive and show signs of re- 
turning consciousness. 

Busily they worked over him that evening — the 
poor little waif whose whole life before had never 
known so much of care or attention — until the 


CHINKS OF CLANXYFORD. 


237 


chilled blood was coursing naturally through his 
veins again. Then Hannah bore him to a com- 
fortable bed, and covered him with soft, warm 
blankets, in the cozy little room that she had made 
cheerful with a bright fire. 

Outside, though the snow had nearly ceased fall- 
ing, the wind still blew fiercely, driving it into 
great white drifts. The farmer, who had come to 
see Mr. Grail on business, was fairly storm-bound 
and obliged to remain over-night. 

I’m afraid my folks’ll be a little uneasy about 
me,” he said, yielding to the necessity. I hadn’t 
any idea the storm was going to turn into such a 
regular blow ; still, I can’t wish I had stayed at 
home, so long as my coming was the means of 
saving that poor little fellow’s life. I hope it will 
clear up by to-morrow,” he added, going to the 
door and glancing up at the cloudy sky. 

His wish was granted. The morning dawned 
clear and sunny, lighting up the snow as with 
millions of tiny lamps, and he was able to take his 
departure. He went first, however, to Dan’s room 
for a farewell glance at the little sleeper whom he 
had rescued from a colder slumber. A smile came 
to his rough face. 

Sleeping comfortable as a kitten, ain’t he? 


238 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFORD. 


He’ll be all right in a day or two. Such young- 
sters get over anything easy, and he’s fallen into 
good hands, that’s very sure, ma’am. Nobody 
could be kinder than you have been.” 

It was late in the day when the black eyes 
opened, and there was a bewildered, troubled look 
in them as they glanced around the room and 
rested at last on Miss Crail, who sat there. She 
fancied that he did not know where he was, or was 
trying to comprehend how he came there, and she 
went to the bedside : 

You know me, Dan ?” 

Yes,” scanning her face with the same serious, 
earnest gaze. 

And you are at my house. You were coming 
to the village yesterday, and got tired and lay 
down in the snow, didn’t you?” half questioningly. 

A gentleman brought you here.” 

He seemed to recollect then something of what 
had happened. 

I must go ; maum’ll be mad ; she wants the 
cold pieces,” he said, raising his head a little from 
its pillow. But in a moment it fell wearily back 
again. 

Oh no ; lie still,” Miss Crail answered, sooth- 
ingly. It stormed so that she would know you 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFORD. 


239 


could not go back. Do not worry yourself ; no 
one will be angry.’^ 

He closed his eyes with a faint sigh, whether of 
weariness or relief she could not tell, but presently 
opened them again, and stretching out his little 
brown hand, patted the soft white pillow. 

‘^It’s nice,^’ he said. 

Yes ; you shall stay here until you are well. 
But you have not had any breakfast yet. Hannah 
will bring you some.’’ 

He ate very little, however, when it was pre- 
pared, nor did he seem to wish for anything all day, 
except to lie quiet and still. 

He may not be well enough to be out again for 
a day or two yet, and I suppose we ought to let 
those people in the hut know where he is,-^’ said 
Miss Grail to Mrs. Gray, when the latter ran in, 
just at evening, to inquire once more after the 
little patient. 

They are so used to looking out each one for 
himself and taking no care of others that I do 
not imagine they will feel much troubled about 
him. Still, we cannot tell exactly, and it is only 
right they should know,” Mrs. Gray answered. 

“And I think Dan himself would feel more 
content and free from all dread of maum’s anger 


240 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFORD. 


if he knew that she understood where he was and 
why he was staying/^ Miss Crail rejoined. If I 
only knew how to send them word — ’’ 

Could not Teddy Cresly go suggested her 
friend. He knows the place, and could easily ex- 
plain all that it would be necessary to have them 
know. I think he would rather like the errand/’ 
smiling, ^^and if you wish, I will see him to- 
morrow.” 

This arrangement was decided upon, and the 
next day, Teddy, after receiving Mrs. Gray’s in- 
structions, started upon his walk very readily, 
elated by the brightness of the day and the im- 
portance of being a messenger, besides being pleased 
to gratify his curiosity by another view of the 
interior of the hut, since he had the laAvful excuse 
of an errand for doing so. There was something 
comical in the air of boldness and importance with 
'which he marched up to the rude door and knocked. 

Sime answered his summons, and discovering who 
the intruder was, stood gazing at him with as much 
indignation as his habitual indolence would permit. 
Teddy, however, bestowed very little attention upon 
him, but seeing maum by the fire, pushed his way 
in and addressed her. 

“ See here, missus,” he called, by way of attract- 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFOEI). 


241 


ing her notice, “ that boy o’ yours — Dan — he’s sick 
at Mr. CrailV’ • 

Hey ?” said maum, not seeming to comprehend. 

“ Yes, he is. He was ’most froze day before yes- 
terday. He got tired and laid down in the snow 
to sleep, I s’pose, and you wouldn’t have got no 
more cold pieces out of him if nobody hadn’t found 
him,” said Teddy, earnestly. He was part cov- 
ered up, and a man come along and found him, 
and carried him in his sleigh to Mr. Grail’s. He 
was all w'hite and didn’t know nothin’, but they 
rubbed him and give him things to take, and he’s 
better now. He’s in bed, though, and can’t come 
back yet, so they sent me to tell you.” 

Sick, Dan is ?” repeated maum, questioningly. 

Yes’in. They’re goin’ to keep him till he gets 
well ; they s’posed you w^as willin’.” 

Yaas,” she answ^ered, slowly. If they had felt 
any anxiety concerning Dan, they manifested none 
then, and no one asked any further questions, so 
Teddy, having improved the opportunity to take 
a good survey of the place while he was talking, 
took his leave. 

It is probable that maum felt some measure of 
relief in learning that the boy was safe, and it 
might have been partly curiosity concerning him 
16 


242 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFORD. 


that led her to the village with a few baskets two 
or three days later. She stopped at Mr. CraiFs, 
and without waiting to have her ask for him, Miss 
Crail explained how the child was brought to them, 
and asked if she would like to see him. She made 
no reply, but as the lady at once arose to lead the 
way, she followed her. 

Dan was lying very still, though with his eyes 
open, gazing out of the window, as he seemed con- 
tent to do for hours at a time, but he started as 
he saw maum enter, and a shadow passed over his 
face — an expression of mingled sorrow and fear, 
with something of entreaty in it too. But maum 
only gazed at him for a moment or two, then 
turned and walked out of the room without a 
word. 

‘^Maum ain’t goin’ to take me away?” asked 
Dan after she had gone and Miss Crail came back 
to the room. 

‘^Oh no; you are to stay here until you are 
quite well,” she answered. 

After that he was satisfied, and the fear of 
maum’s displeasure that had seemed to haunt him 
passed away. She knew where he was, had seen 
him and left him there, and he was content. But 
he did not recover rapidly, as they had expected 


CHINKS OF CLANNTFOBD. 


243 


and hoped, and indeed scarcely seemed to gain 
strength at all. He evinced no restlessness, no in- 
clination to move about. They changed his posi- 
tion occasionally to a sofa or easy-chair, but he 
liked best to lie still in the place where he had 
awakened that first morning. He suffered no pain. 
^^Jest tired — it’s nice here,” he said, in answer 
to all inquiries. But the tired” lasted so long 
that Miss Crail grew uneasy. 

should like to have a physician see him,” 
she said one day. 

Why don’t you send for one, then ?” her brother 
asked ; though really, I do not see anything re- 
markable in that poor toad’s feeling inclined to 
stick to a comfortable bed now that he is enjoying 
one for the first time in his life.” 

She smiled, but she despatched a messenger to 
the city that very day, and toward evening Dr. 
Williston came. Miss Crail’s acquaintance with 
him was but slight. One who had been their 
family physician for years had removed to another 
place, and Dr. Williston had lately been engaged 
in his stead. She had great confidence in his 
opinion, however, and briefly explaining how the 
invalid came in her charge, she led him at once 
to the room. 


244 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFOBD. 


The child was sleeping, and as the doctor looked 
at him his first expression of mere professional 
interest changed to a curiously perplexed, puzzled 
look; then a flash of recognition came, and he 
smiled. 

“ Ah, my little prince of beggars, it is you 

He placed his fingers gently on the small brown 
Avrist, but light as the touch w^as it awoke the 
sleeper, and the large eyes were wide open in an 
instant, scanning the doctor’s face with serious, 
steady gaze. 

“ And so you are sick, my little man ?” said the 
doctor, cheerily. What is the matter ?” 

No — ain’t sick ; I’m tired,” Dan replied. 

Well, what makes you tired ?” 

Trampin’, guess,” was the answer, given slowly, 
and as if he felt very little interest in either the 
effect or its cause. 

^^Oh, that is it? Well, we must try and get 
you rested then, so that you can get up and walk 
about again.” 

A faint shadow passsed over the childish face, 
and the little brown hand patted the soft pillow 
affectionately. 

It’s good here ; I like it,” he said. 

The doctor lingered for some time, examining 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFORD. 


245 


and questioning closely and carefully; then pass- 
ing out, he paused for a moment in the hall below 
to speak with Miss Crail. 

‘‘I think we shall have him about again after 
a while,” he said. It will take time, however — • 
not so much because of any settled organic disease 
as from an utter want of vitality. Hardship, ex- 
posure and Cold have all been doing their work, 
and their effect cannot be counteracted at once. 
Probably you will do him far more good than I 
shall,” smiling ; still, I will look after him again 
in a day or two, and see what my prescription has 
accomplished.” 

The winter days slipped by one by one, and Miss 
Crail grew more and more attached to her little 
charge. Mrs. Gray ran in to see him almost daily, 
and old Hannah could not do enough for him. He 
enjoyed all the petting, though with a kind of quiet 
wonder, and seemed to be perfectly happy and sat- 
isfied. 

do not think I could ever consent to his 
going back to those people again,” Miss Crail re- 
marked one day. 

“ No,” Mrs. Gray answered ; we must try and 
make some different arrangement for him when he 
gets better.” 


246 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFORD. 


Bat gradually the expression when he gets 
better changed to if he gets better/^ and after a 
time even that was dropped. The doctor came not 
infrequently, but he no longer spoke so hopefully 
as he had done at first. Yet he had a fancy for the 
queer little waif/^ he said, ^^and liked to see him now 
and then.’^ Once he brought him a few flowers — 
some white and scarlet geraniums, such as had so 
delighted him at the window, and a beautiful rose. 
The child’s eyes glowed like stars as he saw them ; 
he took them eagerly, and held them close to his 
face. 

‘^You haven’t got your garden yet,” said the 
doctor, laughing at his earnestness. 

‘^No; it’s up yonder,” he answered, quietly. 

^‘The inheritance of the saints in light” was 
very real and tangible to him. His home, his 
flowers, all his treasures, were there, and he enter- 
tained no doubt of his possessions. From the few 
Sabbath-school lessons that his darkened life had 
known, that one thing he seemed to understand, 
remember and cling to. He liked to be told about 
it again and again, lying still and listening intently, 
though but seldom asking any questions. Once 
when he had spoken of something that he should 
have there in that simple, assured way, as another 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFOnn. 


247 


child would speak of things he had at home, Mrs, 
Gray asked : 

^^How do you know that you will have all these 
things, Dan? You could not buy them or earn 
them ; who will give them to you 

The Lord Jesus Christ,^^ he answered, un- 
hesitatingly ; then, with a troubled, questioning 
look stealing into his eyes, You told me so 

Surely it was enough. 

Yes; you are right,^’ Mrs. Gray said, her eyes 
moistening as she bent to kiss his forehead. 

Days grew into weeks, the weeks flitted by, and 
it became very evident that his strength was slowly, 
surely failing — that new life and vigor would only 
come to him up yonder.’^ 

After maum’s one visit she never came again, 
and with the exception of Moll, who stopped at 
the door one day to offer her willow-ware, none of 
the inmates of the hut came to the house. Dan 
scarcely spoke of them ; he seemed to be almost 
forgetting the old life in those days of comfort and 
peace. They were pleasant days to him, every 
one, even to the last. 

That day he had been lying for hours as if in 
quiet sleep. Miss Crail was sitting beside him, 
and Mrs. Gray had come in. Suddenly the dark 


248 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFORH 


eyes unclosed for an instant, clear and bright, and 
the childish face said, faintly. 

Want to buy — any — wilier baskets 

Ah, no ! not at the portals where he was stand- 
ing ! Yet he need not turn away to wander in the 
cold and gloom, for the door is thrown wide open, 
and he passes in to the light and love of heaven. 

Miss Crail laid softly down the little hand she 
had held. 

^^He knows what Father and home are now,” 
she said. 

The next day a messenger was despatched to the 
hut, but he found neither it nor its inmates ; the 
place was deserted. The building itself had been 
torn down, and most of the boards that composed 
it carried away. A heap of ashes remained on the 
spot where the rude fireplace had been, and some 
straw, bits of rag and pieces of wood were scattered 
about. Nothing else was left to tell that it had 
been a human habitation — no living creature was 
in sight. 

Whether something had occurred that made 
them think it not safe to remain any longer in that 
pai’t of the country, whether they had concluded 
that Dan would not recover, and that without him 
begging would be less successful about Clannyford, 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFOBD. 


249 


or whether they had simply remained as long as, 
in their vagabond, wandering life, it suited them 
to stay in one place, and so had moved on, no one 
could tell, nor whither they had gone. They had 
dropped out of Clannyford life and knowledge as 
suddenly as they had come into it, and they were 
seen there no more. 



CHAPTER XIL 

N her bit of a kitchen/’ clean as incessant 
scrubbing could make it, Maggie Xolan 
had seated herself with her sewing. Her 
plump red hands were working slowly and 
not very skillfully — they were more at home with 
a scouring brush than with a needle — trying to 
fashion a little dress. Less skillful than usual, 
even, they were to-day, for her thoughts kept wan- 
dering, and then her fingers blundered. She 
glanced uneasily at the clock now and then, and 
the children’s questions received no answer but, 
^^Ah, be quiet, thin, Kitty darlint,” and, ^^Kow, 
Mitty, don’t be botherin’.” Over the rosy face, 
always so ready to reflect any sunshine that fell 
upon it, a shadow was creeping and darkening. 

By and by she dropped her work, and throwing 
her check apron over her head, she ran out to the 
gate to look up the road. Twice before, within 
the last hour, she had done the same thing, and 
not one of the neighbors on that quiet village 
street but could guess the cause. 

250 



CHINKS OF CLANNYFORD. 


251 


Looking for Tim ; he is staying too long up at 
Favisham’s, likely/^ one said to another. ^^Poor 
Maggie ! she has a time of it trying to keep him 
straight 

Poor Maggie ! yet she stood her ground bravely 
in battling against this enemy that was trying to 
take her husband from her, from his children, 
himself and all usefulness. Successful or unsuc- 
cessful, she would not, dared not, give up the strug- 
gle. Victorious, hopeful, though she might be, 
she was never off guard, and defeated, however 
discouraged, she never surrendered. So now, when 
she saw him coming very unsteadily down the 
street, she waited to meet him and help him into 
the house. He had been so long in coming that 
she had felt almost sure how he would come at last, 
and the Oh, Tim uttered so sadly, was her only 
word of reproach. 

Kent Graham, passing up the street on the op- 
posite side, had watched Tim as he drew near his 
home with unsteady tread with a strange blending 
of disappointment, indignation and pity. As he 
walked on he saw Sam standing in the door of 
the Cresly cottage, and stopped for a word or two 
with him ; he wanted somebody’s sympathy on the 
subject. 


252 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFORD. 


^^Did you see Tim IsTolan just now? Isn’t it 
too bad ?” 

'^Yes,” said Sam, answering both questions at 
once. s’pose, though, there ain’t anybody 

knows how hard it is to stop, after getting to like 
the stuff, only them that’s tried it. I read some- 
where, the other day, about a doctor that had 
started a hospital for that kind of folks — said it 
w^as a sort of craziness, anyhow.” 

That’s a sensible idea ! I think they must be 
insane,” said Kent, a little vexation still mingling 
with his disappointment. After a moment he added 
somewhat anxiously : I am afraid Tim will lose 
his place in the mill again.” 

He ain’t likely to do that just now, anyhow. 
It’s Saturday evening, you see, and he’ll be all 
straight and fit to work by Monday,” Sara an- 
swered. Factory stopped earlier to-day ’count 
of something Mr. Crail wanted fixed, so Tim’s 
been up to Favisham’s and met some of his chums 
there and got drunk.” 

Does he drink very often, do you think ?” Kent 
asked. 

Well, no, not very — not reg’lar — only once in 
a while, and then it’s mostly on Saturdays when he 
has gone up to the store to buy groceries or some- 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFORD. 


253 


thing. That’s the way with a good many of ’em 
round here.” 

It’s miserable, but I don’t see that it can be 
helped,” said Kent, despondingly. 

If I had money enough I’d find a way pretty 
quick — a way that would help some of it, anyhow,” 
answered Sam, slowly. '^It would be handy in 
a good many ways, and pay too, I guess.” 

^^How?” 

Why, I’d start another store down here at 
Clannyford. I’d keep everything else as good or 
better than they do up at Favisham’s, but I wouldn’t 
keep whisky.” 

‘^I never thought of such a thing as that,” said 
Kent, after considering the subject for a moment 
or two in silence. But I don’t know whether it 
would do much good. They are all so used to 
going to Favisham’s that they would go there, 
anyway, wouldn’t they? Do you suppose they 
w^ould buy from the new store ?” 

Course they would — ’most all of ’em — if they 
could get things as cheap and as good. It would 
be handier, you see ; they have to go nearly a mile 
for everything now. Besides, if I ain’t mistaken, 
they’d soon find they could save money by trading 
at the new store.” 


254 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFORD, 


Save money ? In what way 
By getting things cheaper. I’ll tell you how 
it is, Kent,” said Sam, earnestly; ^^Favisham 
has had all the trade for so long that he thinks 
he can ask what he likes and nobody say a 
word. He makes more than fair profits on some 
things, you’d better believe ! There’s molasses, 
sugar and coffee, now. You see when I was in 
town one day I just thought I’d ask round, so I 
found out what they asked by the hogshead and 
sack, and what the retail stores sold ’em out for. 
It wasn’t Favisham’s prices, nohow!” 

^^Why, you must have been thinking a good 
deal about it ?” said Kent, a little curiously. 

Yes ; a good many things come into my head 
that there ain’t any use in, for I can’t do anything 
about it.” Sam threw away the stick he had been 
whittling, and shut up his knife. ‘^But I’m pretty 
sure that if somebody would start a store here he 
could sell a good many things enough cheaper than 
Favisham to make folks trade with him, and do 
well, too.” 

Kent was watching his companion with some- 
thing of admiration mingling in his interest. How 
he had changed and improved in the last year! 
The evenings of reading and study were speaking 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFOBD. 


255 


for themselves in his earnest face and intelligent 
opinions, and a certain quiet self-respect was taking 
the place of the old half-sullen shyness. Kent did 
not stop to analyze the change, nor could he fully 
comprehend it or its cause ; he only felt it. Almost 
unconsciously something of his thought found its 
way into words : 

You must have a better business head than I 
have, Sam; I don’t believe I should ever have 
thought of such a plan.” 

Sam laughed — a little gratified, perhaps. 

There’s no great wonder about that. ’Tain’t 
likely you’d be thinking how to make money; 
you’ve never wanted for it, and I have: that’s 
the difference. I don’t call that a plan, though. 
It’s only — well, a notion. A plan is something 
you mean to carry out, I take it, and I can’t do 
that — not yet.” 

There was a history in that slowly spoken not 
yet” of how the old discouraged, bitter, hopeless 
feelings in regard to the future had been gradually 
passing away, and new hope, courage and energy 
springing up in their place. Two years before 
Sam Cresly would not have spoken those words, 
nor, indeed, have indulged in the thoughts that 
had called them forth. 


256 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFORD. 


His home was still improving, too, gradually, and 
mostly ill little things, though they did not seem 
little in the aggregate. A few new articles had 
been added — a chair or two, some fresh curtains 
and a half dozen new plates, cups and saucers for 
the desolate-looking shelves of the old cupboard. 
The children kept up the respectable appearance 
to which they had brought the yard tolerably 
well. Susie had a real love for flowers, and the 
few she owned now were the first and only pets 
she had ever had, and she took good care of 
them. Teddy’s ambition in regard to the place 
showed itself by fits and starts. He would work 
at it perse veringly for a while, and then, but for 
Susie’s coaxing, would have let it alone just as 
perseveringly for a much longer time. Still, with 
his occasional moods of industry, Susie’s work and 
persuasion and the interest Sam manifested in the 
matter, the place had never relapsed into any- 
thing like its former condition. 

Inside the house better order reigned also. 
After some pieces of furniture had been rear- 
ranged by Mrs. Clark, and it had been admitted 
that the new way looked better, Mrs. Cresly kept 
them so, though she would probably never have 
thought to make the change herself. She had 


CIIiyKS OF CLANNYFORD. 


257 


fallen into a habit of more careful sweeping and 
dusting, too, and Susie, having discovered that Mrs. 
Clark always brightened her tins and washed her 
cupboards every Friday, insisted upon imitating 
the performance. She considered it lots of fun,’’ 
and though her cleaning days” were not the most 
wisely arranged, effective or thorough that was 
possible, they were still much better than none. 
In fact, Susie’s bump of order was large, and at 
the first opportunity began to develop itself. 
Already her little hands were trying to smooth out 
many roughnesses, and in various matters notice- 
able to her childish eyes to bring order out of the 
disorder of her home. The whole family were 
more respectably and comfortably dressed, and the 
child, having found that she looked, as she ex- 
pressed it, like other little girls,” was fast losing 
the painful shyness that had made her seem dull 
and awkward, and growing as frank, bright and 
merry as a child could be. 

Sam began to feel a to him novel sense of 
brotherly pride in her as she came running out to 
meet him when he came from work, her sunny 
face lifted to his and her rosy lips brimming over 
with talk. He called her ^^My Susie” occasion- 
ally, with a pleasant sense of proprietorship in her 
17 


258 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFORD. 


increasing sweetness and prettiness, and it added 
not a little to his hopefulness and self-respect that 
she looked so nicely, and that his work was pro- 
curing these comforts for her. 

She gratified him, too, by the way in which she 
brought to him all her wishes and plans, and her 
perfect confidence in his skill, ability and know- 
ledge. We are so influenced by the judgment of 
others that few of us can be even very self-reliant 
when no one else relies upon us, and though Sam 
was scarcely conscious of it, yet Susie’s abounding 
faith in him added something to his own faith in 
himself, and made him stronger in hope and cour- 
age. They were growing to be the best of friendsj 
this brother and sister, and that is what many 
brothers and sisters, even not unloving ones, are 
not. 

The two boys were silent for a little while. Kent 
was considering Sam’s air-castle, and trying to 
decide what the probable results would be if it 
could indeed be brought down to earth and con- 
verted into a veritable village grocery. 

After all,” he said, soberly, I suppose a good 
many would go up to Favisham’s just for some- 
thing to drink, if they didn’t go for anything else.” 

Yes, that’s so,” Sam admitted. The ones 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFORD. 


259 


that’s really bound to drink will do it, and I don’t 
see as anybody can stop ’em. But there’s some, 
like Tim Nolan, now, that want to stop it. They 
know it hurts ’em, and they won’t touch it for a 
good while at once, until they go where it is or 
somebody offers it to ’em ; then the liking is too 
strong, and the first thing they know, they’re drunk 
again. They’d keep clear of Favisham’s pretty 
much altogether if they didn’t have to go there for 
groceries. As for the other sort, if it didn’t stop 
their drinking any, a new store would help their 
families a good deal. You see if it was handy, so 
the women folks could come for things themselves, 
they’d get a good share of the money that’s earned 
to buy with, while now the men take all their 
wages Saturday night up to Favisham’s. They 
drink, treat and pay bills till they don’t have much 
left to buy anything to take home by the time 
they’re ready to start, and they’re so drunk, besides, 
that they don’t care ; that’s about how it goes.” 

“ I suppose so, and Favisham understands it all 
and knows just what they are dong. I don’t see 
how he can be willing to keep up such a wretched 
business !” Kent exclaimed, in indignant wonder. 

Well, he makes money at it,” Sam answered, 
coolly. 


260 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFOBD. 


Makes money !” exclaimed Kent, indignantly ; 
money isn’t everything.” 

But it brings almost everything, money does,” 
said Sam, taking a practical view of the matter. 

remember hearing an old minister once say 
that, after all, we just made out of it one of two 
things,” answered Kent, slowly — either wings that 
would help us heavenward or a millstone that 
would hang about our necks and drag us down to 
destruction.” 

Sam made no reply, and, after a moment or two, 
Kent arose, and remarking that he had yet to ride 
into town that evening and it was quite time he 
had started, walked away. 

Sam watched him until he was out of sight, and 
sat there quite still for some time after, his head 
resting upon his hand. At last a light gleaming 
out through the window broke upon his reverie, 
and looking up, he saw that Susie had placed a 
lamp upon the table near which he usually sat with 
his books. He went in then, and drawing a chair 
to his accustomed place, took up a book and began 
turning over the leaves a little absently. 

“ Isn’t that the right book ? This is the one 
you had last night,” said Susie, bringing another 
volume and laying it down beside him. 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFORD. 


261 


But this was Saturday night, and remembering 
the next day’s Bible lesson, he turned from other 
studies to look at that. He had quite outgrown 
his dislike to the Bible class; going at first to 
please Miss Crail, he went now because it pleased 
himself. He liked the knowledge of history, of 
ancient life and customs that he could gain there, 
and he found that talking with some one else about 
such things was, for once in the w’eek at least, a 
pleasant change from studying alone. 

He glanced over the chapter, and presently these 
words caught his eye and held it for a moment: 

For here we have no continuing city, but we seek 
one to come.” They brought a vague unrest, a 
feeling of discomfort, or rather deepened it, per- 
haps, since it was Kent’s last words that had 
awakened the train of thought that troubled him. 
It was not a new feeling; he had stilled it or 
turned from it more than once before. Amid all 
his efforts to improve his outward life and cir- 
cumstances, he was not willing yet to acknowledge 
higher aims and duties. F ull of his new ambitions, 
hopes and plans for this world, the thought of an- 
other, where no advantages of wealth or position 
gained here would avail him anything, was unwel- 
come. He was not ready to confess himself a 


262 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFORD. 


pilgrim and stranger/’ and yet, however unwished 
for, some suggestion of the life beyond kept meeting 
him on every hand. He was constantly reminded 
that, whether he desired it or not, he could have 
here “ no continuing city.” 

Should he seek one to come ” ? He was count- 
ing the cost, though unconsciously ; not that he had 
any great possessions,” but he hoped to have. 
It may be found at last of many a one that he 
would have been willing to have given up all that 
he had, and yet have lost heaven for the sake of 
some glittering dream that was just before him. 

While he sat there thinking, studying, trying to 
learn the lesson without learning it, Teddy came in, 
noisy and much elated, jumped over the low rock- 
ing-chair that stood in his way, flung his hat upon 
the table and remarked, 

‘‘ I know some good news, I tell you !” 

What ?” asked Susie. His mother paused in 
her sewing, and Sam turned around and looked at 
him. 

Well, ’tain’t anything so very great, either, only 
I’m goin’ to turn storekeeper.” 

Susie’s black eyes opened to their widest extent, 
and Teddy, perceiving that he was making an im- 
pression, proceeded ; 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFOBD. 


263 


goin’ to clerk for Favisham/’ 

What are you talking about?” asked Sam. 

What do you mean ?” 

Mean just what I say,” answered Teddy, draw- 
ing himself up with an air of importance. You 
see I went up to the store after that corn-meal, and 
they was busy up there and said I’d have to wait, 
so I set down. Bime-by they wanted some candle 
boxes moved in out of the way, and I helped fetch 
^em in. Mr. Favisham says, ^You’re a pretty smart 
fellow, ain’t you ?’ and I told him I guessed I was. 
Then he said they’d been thinking they’d like to 
get a good boy to help ’em now and then, and he 
didn’t know but I’d do as well as anybody, and 
asked me how I’d like to be a storekeeper. I said, 
' First rate.’ He said he didn’t care about me all 
the time, only nights, after school and Saturdays — 
’specially Saturdays, when there’s a good many in 
after drinks. He wanted me to learn to wait on 
’em, and to help round other ways. He said if I’d 
come up every night after school and every Satur- 
day, he’d give me seventy-five cents a week and 
Teddy put his hands into his pockets as if he felt 
plenty of money already there. 

Well, you won’t go,” said Sam, emphatically. 

Won’t?” Teddy forgot his newlv-assumed 


264 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFORD. 


dignity in his astonishment, and opened his eyes 
as wide as Snsie’s had opened at his first announce- 
ment. 

Not if I have anything to say about it, and I 
rather think I have,” Sam added. 

Teddy considered a moment. Sam had had 
something to say about a good many things lately, 
and he did not think it quite wise to advance the 
opinion that he would not about this, so he re- 
marked, a little less confidently : 

don’t see why. I should think you might 
be glad to have me get the money.” 

Money isn’t everything,” Sam answered, al- 
most unconsciously repeating Kent’s words. 

Humph ! ’Pears to me you try hard enough 
to earn it, if it ain’t worth much,” said Teddy, 
rather indignantly. 

didn’t say it wasn’t Avorth much, I said it 
wasn’t everything, and what money I do get I’ll 
get honestly, anyhow, and not in any such mean 
Avork as that. You think it Avould be a fine thing 
to go up to Favisham’s and help him sell whisky. 
It AAmuldn’t be long before you’d be as big a drunk- 
ard as any of ’em, and your seventy-five cents 
wouldn’t pay for the AA'hisky you’d drink. Ted 
Cresly, if you haven’t seen enough of that sort of 


CHIXKS OF CLANNYFORD. 265 

thing to last you your lifetime, then I can tell you 
that I have, that’s all !” 

He spoke with a bitter energy so unlike his usual 
tone that Teddy was startled, and preserved an 
amazed silence for a few seconds. But his boyish 
sense of importance had been flattered by the prop- 
osition made to him, and the offered money — no 
small amount in his eyes — was too tempting to be 
readily relinquished. 

No ; I wouldn’t drink, neither; I guess I’ve got 
more sense’n that !” he said, half petulantly, half 
persuasively. “ I wouldn’t never touch it, Sam.” 

^^ And if you didn’t, you’d help Favisham sell 
it to other folks, and send ’em staggering home 
like Tim Nolan did to-night. You’d help him 
get rich on the money they’d ought to buy their 
folks something to eat with, and let ’em go home 
drunk and crazy, to knock their wives and children 
about and turn ’em out of doors. You’ve tried 
that yourself ; how did you like it ?” 

“Oh no, no, Teddy! you mustn’t do it!” ex- 
claimed Mrs. Cresly, seeming suddenly to compre- 
hend the proposition, and for once rousing from 
her listlessuess into trembling dread and terror, as 
if some past agony were rising from its grave and 
threatening to come back into her life again. “ It 


266 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFORD. 


ain’t no better than murder, Teddy — it’s worse; it 
kills a hundred times over. Don’t you go there ! 
don’t have nothing to do with it.” 

He sha’n’t,” said Sam, decidedly. Favisham 
has done enough for our family that way ; he’d 
better let us alone now.” 

Teddy stood still. He remembered the old days 
of watching and dreading for his father to come, 
the blows and abuse, and the nights when he and 
Susie had been obliged to seek shelter with the 
neighbors or wander about out of doors for hours, 
not daring to venture into the house. Susie did 
not look then as she did now ; he glanced at her, 
and noticed the change. He recalled the many 
days when they had had but little to eat, and re- 
membered how gloomy Sam had looked, how 
anxious and frightened his mother had been. He 
thought of that last night when the horribly mu- 
tilated body had been brought home cold and stiff. 
Yes, drink had done it all : even his childish brain 
could understand that clearly. Teddy’s resolution 
was taken. He picked up his cap and quietly 
walked out of the house. 

Sam turned to his book again and tried to study, 
but excited feeling held its sway, and would not 
pass at once. How dared they make such an offer 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFORD. 


267 


to Teddy ? Did they want to make him what his 
father had been ? Well, they did not mean that, 
perhaps ; they only did not care, that was all. They 
wanted their work done, and what concern was it 
of theirs what the effect might be upon the boy? 
They ought to care, though. Kent Graham was 
right : money was not everything ! What if the 
old burden should come back to his life again — not 
a drunken father, but brother ? The very thought 
struck with strange chill and gloom through all his 
hopes and dreams, and called up for a moment a 
sickening vision. Then he banished it, and smiled 
a little at himself as one sometimes does on awak- 
ening frightened from a dream. Ko, it would not 
be ; yet glancing again at the Bible verse that had 
first attracted his attention, after all, this was not 
really a satisfactory world in which to have a con- 
tinuing city.^’ There were so many awful possi- 
bilities in it ! 

In little more than half an hour Teddy came 
back. 

I\^e done it,^^ he said. 

Done what asked Susie. 

Told Favisham.^^ 

You havenT been up there?’’ interrupted Sam, 
surprise and a little dismay in his voice. 


268 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFOED. 


Yes, I have,’^ answered Teddy. “Thouglit I 
might as well have done with it, ’cause, you see, I 
told him before I guessed I’d come ; now I told him 
I wouldn’t, and no guess about it.” 

What did he say ?” asked Susie, curiously. 

Didn’t say nothing much. I went in, and says 
I, ^ Mr. Favishain, I can’t help you sell whisky.’ 

^ Why, you have changed your mind in a hurry ! 
What’s the matter?’ he says. And I told him, 
^’Cause I don’t care about getting to be an old 
toper myself, and anyhow, it’s a mean business 
getting away men’s money that they’d oughter buy 
their folks something to eat with, and giving ’em 
whisky to drink so they come home drunk and 
tear round and break things and scare everybody. 
It’s a mean business, and ’tain’t honest. Sam says 
so, and he says I sha’n’t come, and I don’t want to, 
besides.’ 

He didn’t say nothing at all, only there was a 
lot of men in there, and some of ’em laughed, so I 
came away. Just as I came out, though, a man 
that had been in there came out after me. He was 
all dressed up and had a carpet-bag — some stranger 
waiting for the train, I guess — and says he, ^ Little 
boy, you’re right ; stick to that.’ ,Then he laughed 
and said he’d paid a quarter more’n once to hear a 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFORD. 


269 


temperance speech, and mine was a pretty good one, 
so he’d give me a quarter to remember it by. Here 
it is;” and Teddy exhibited the coin. real 

bright, new shiner, ain’t it ? It’s got a hole in it, 
and you can put a string through it, Susie, and wear 
it round your neck till I want to buy something 
with it.” 

Sam had not thought of his words being repeated 
to Mr. Favisham, and the way in which Teddy 
had done it might make him an enemy. Still, the 
boy had not thought of anything except giving 
the real reason for not taking the offered place, 
and whether Mr. Favisham disliked it or not, it 
was only the plain, simple truth. Sam could not 
decide that he wished Teddy’s words unspoken, and 
so he said nothing about it. 



CHAPTER XIII. 


2NT GRAHAM rode back to the city 
thoughtfully, wishing, planning, studying, 
and though his thoughts traveled much far- 
ther and faster than he did, they had yet 
reached no satisfactory conclusion when he had 
reached his destination. The shutters, at home, had 
not yet been closed, and the light from the bright 
rooms streamed out cheerfully. Glancing up at one 
of the windows, Kent saw a girlish face framed there 
— somebody watching for him — and after a mo- 
ment’s wondering he guessed who it must be, and 
sprang in to greet his cousin Vernie. He was 
right. It was her bright face that turned to meet 
him as he entered, and he noticed with satisfaction 
that she did not seem to be in traveling-dress and 
had quite a settled and at-home air. 

^^Kow, are you just going somewhere, and have 
only stopped for the night ? or did you really come 
to see us ?” he asked. 

have really come to stay for a week or two 
— if you want me,” she answered, laughing. 

270 



CllimCS OF CLANNYFORD. 


271 


“ Certainly we want you/’ said her uncle, lifting 
a handful of her shining curls and letting them 
fall again. We don’t get you very often, though, 
and we shall be sure to keep you as long as we can 
now.” 

^^Yoii deserve a vote of thanks!” Kent said, 
merrily. If I had known you were here, I 
would have been home long ago.” 

^‘Oh, I haven’t been here long,” Vernie replied — 
^^only about two hours. I didn’t think of coming 
at all until yesterday — that is, not of coming so 
soon ; I’d meant to come a month or two later. 
But Lucie Austin had been with us for her two 
weeks’ vacation, and was going back to school, and 
mamma said I might come part of the way with 
her, if I liked, and make my visit here. She 
thought it would be pleasanter than to wait until 
midsummer, when the weather would be so warm 
that I couldn’t go about much, and in the fall I 
can’t very well leave home, if Lewis should go 
away.” 

I^ewis ? where is he going ?” 

is going to the Sandwich Islands, maybe. 
Didn’t he write to you about it? I thought boys 
always told one another such things in their letters : 
girls do.” 


272 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFORD. 


“ But I haven^t had a letter from Lewis for two 
months/^ 

Haven’t you ? That is the reason, then ; he 
didn’t know it himself so long ago as that. Lucie 
Austin came from there, you know — the Sandwich 
Islands, I mean. She is real nice, Kent, and I 
like her very much,” said Vernie, breaking off in 
the middle of her explanation to speak of her 
friend. I was half afraid I shouldn’t, but I do. 
We all like her, and watch for her holidays almost 
as if she belonged to us. Well, she has told us a 
great deal about her home and the people and life 
there, and Lew has asked so many questions, and 
been so much interested in her stories, that I think 
she must have written to her father about it. She 
laughs, and says she has told him about us all. 
At any rate, papa had a letter from him about a 
month ago, thanking him and mamma for making 
Lucie’s school-life so pleasant, and offering to take 
Lewis into his business there and give him a good 
position if they were willing to let him go. He 
intends coming to see Lucie next fall, he says, and 
the matter can be decided then.” 

Lewis wants to go, I suppose ?” said Kent, re- 
membering his cousin’s desire for change and ad- 
venture. 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFORD. 273 

Yes/’ answered Yernie, a little shadow flitting 
over her face. I shouldn’t think he would want 
to go so far away from us all, but he does. Jasper 
isn’t a bit like that.” 

Jasper is younger, and then he is different 
naturally. It isn’t that Lew wants to go away 
from his friends ; he only wants to see new places 
and things, and to do new work,” said Kent, 
quickly, anxious to soothe the touch of wounded 
feeling that had betrayed itself in her words. 

Yes, Lewis is older — almost sixteen,” she an- 
swered, slowly. ^‘1 suppose it would be nice to 
travel about and see what the rest of the world is 
like, only I should want everybody I loved to go 
with me if I were going. However, it is not de- 
cided yet about Lew’s going, though papa says Mr. 
Austin has made a very kind offer.” 

Then came the summons to supper, and Kent, 
delighted at having their well-served and elegant, 
but usually somewhat lonely, table gladdened by 
Yernie’s bright presence, put away, for the time, the 
thoughts that had busied him during his ride, and 
devoted himself to her entertainment. Mr. Gra- 
ham was almost equally pleased in his quiet way. 
Yernie had always been a favorite with him, and 
her light step and clear voice seemed to awaken 

18 


274 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFORD. 


the great rooms to new life. Yet that same voice 
and step, and the half-childish, half-womanly pres- 
ence, called a sigh to his lips more than once during 
the evening. 

Kent and Yernie had always been the best of 
friends. Perhaps because he had no sister of his 
own, and had never been accustomed to such girlish 
sympathy and assistance in his plans and projects, 
he appreciated it more highly than even Lewis or 
Jasper seemed to do, and though Yernie would 
have indignantly resented any suggestion that they 
were not the kindest of brothers, yet he could not 
help recalling the old thought sometimes that they 
did not really know how much had been given 
them. 

The two sat by the study-table that evening 
looking over books, engravings and drawings, and 
pausing for many an interlude of chat. 

‘^Do you know,’^ said Yernie, taking up the 
sketch of a ruined mill, that I have never seen 
Uncle Graham’s mills? Either I have not been 
going to stay long enough, or something has hap- 
pened to prevent my going out whenever I have 
been here ; at any rate, I have never gone there.” 

‘^Kever have been out to Clannyford? You 
must go this time, then !” said Kent, enthusias- 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFORD. 


275 


tically. I want you to see the mills, and go 
about and see what the place is like, too. Besides, 
you must visit Aunt Gray ; you can’t help liking 
her.” 

You will have to take care of yourself, Ver- 
nie,” said Mr. Graham, looking up from his book 
with a smile, ^^or Kent will take you here, there 
and everywhere until you are quite tired out. I 
don’t think he knows what tired means him- 
self.” 

Vernie laughed. 

I want to go and see Aunt Gray,” she said. 

Mamma wanted me to visit her if I could. She 
talks about her often, but I don’t remember her 
very well ; I haven’t seen her since I was six 
years old.” 

She will be glad to see you, and I know you 
will like her,” said Kent. I always stay at her 
house when I am at Clannyford ; it seems almost 
as much home to me as this does.” 

Mamma says Aunt Gray is one of the best 
women she ever knew,” said Vernie, slowly, and a 
shadow crept over her face, and for a few moments 
she was silent and thoughtful. 

The evening wore away pleasantly, but when it 
came to its close, and they were separating for the 


276 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFORD. 


night, Vernie experienced her first feeling of home- 
sickness in missing the accustomed evening wor- 
ship. The old housekeeper showed her to her 
room, pleasant and careful for her comfort as she 
always was. 

It seems cheery to have you here, Miss Yernie, 
and I hope you’ll be content to stop a while. A 
house with no mistress, young or old, isn’t just 
the brightest. I’m pretty well used to it now this 
many years, but I think it’s a bit dreary for Master 
Kent sometimes — though maybe he hardly knows 
what it misses, being too young to remember old 
days like his father. I’m glad you’ve come, and 
I think you’ll find your room all comfortable. 
Good-night, my dear.” 

“ It is all very nice, thank you. Good-night,” 
Yernie answered. Yet when the door had closed 
and she was alone, she threw herself down in the 
great cushioned chair beside her with something 
very like a sigh. 

‘‘It is nice,” she said, as if thinking aloud, 
glancing about the handsomely furnished apart- 
ment; “everything about the place is beautiful, 
and they are all just as kind as can be, but it 
is so strange, cold and unhomelike to have no 
prayer! It seems just like leaving the day all 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFORD. 


277 


at loose ends. I’d be afraid any good thing that 
was put into it would all ravel out.” 

She leaned her head upon her hand for a minute, 
then she moved her chair nearer to the light and 
opened the little Bible she had brought from home 
with her. 

Oh, I wish that I knew I were a Christian !” 
she said. The doubt shadowed both her reading 
and her prayer. There were so many sweet, full, 
precious promises that she found her heart growing 
warm and glad over them ; then came the chilling 
thought : But these are meant for Christians, and 
I am not sure that I am one.” And so it hap- 
pened that she fell asleep at last with tears on 
her lashes. 

Monday morning dawned clear and bright, with 
April’s soft air and coaxing sunlight. Vernie, en- 
joying all its loveliness, could not help reflecting 
some of its brightness, and wandered about the 
house and grounds with sparkling eye and smil- 
ing lip. The day was so beautiful that it seemed 
as if she must be glad in it, and yet, when her 
clear laugh would ring out so easily, she checked 
herself sometimes with a self-reproachful doubt 
whether she had any right to feel so happy. Ah, 
Yernie, Yernie! trying to take God’s gift to you 


278 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFOBD. 


and lay it up on a high shelf, out of reach, until 
your hands shall be worthy to hold it, as if He 
who gave it did not know ! 

Suppose we go out to Clannyford ?’’ said Kent. 
‘^It is just the day for a ride, and perhaps we shall 
not have another as pleasant. Will you go, father? 
Can’t you ?” 

Not to-day, very well ; Vernie will excuse me, 
I guess. How will you go, Kent?” 

Kent looked at his cousin. 

^^We might take the carriage. I didn’t think 
about it; I am so used to going out on Lio. Do 
you ride, Vernie?” 

To think of asking a farmer’s daughter that !” 
laughed Vernie. Surely I do.” 

Then, if you prefer going in that way, I will 
speak to Jim about a horse for you,” her uncle 
said, and Vernie ran away to make ready. 

Mr. Graham went down the avenue with them, 
and watched them as they passed out into the road. 
^‘Take good care of her, Kent,” he said, with a 
wave of good-bye and a smile. 

It was, as Kent had said, just the day for a 
pleasant ride. He was in high spirits, and en- 
tertained his young companion with descriptions 
of the place to which they were going and the 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFORD. 


279 


various people there who were his own particular 
friends and favorites. The two miles seemed short 
to them both, and when they were fairly in the 
village, Vernie was questioning doubtfully whether 
that could be Clannyford. 

Clannyford, indeed, and here is Aunt Gray’s. 
We haven’t been very long in coming,” her cousin 
answered. 

The old lady greeted them cordially. 

Hetty Mead’s daughter !” she said, in reply to 
Kent’s introduction, holding Vernie’s hand in a 
warm clasp and looking with earnest, kindly gaze 
into the flushing face. You are very like your 
mother, my dear, as she was when I knew her 
first.” She stooped and kissed her, and Vernie’s 
heart was won at once. She was well pleased to 
answer all the questions about her home and the 
dear ones there that were asked with such sincere 
and loving interest. 

‘^Vernie came out here partly for the sake of 
visiting father’s noisy old pet down by the river,” 
said Kent, at length. Won’t you go, too, aunty ? 
It is lovely out of doors.” 

I know it is, but I am not feeling very strong 
to-day. I seldom walk as far as that now.” 

She had grown thinner and weaker during the 


280 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFOBD. 


past winter. Kent noticed it with a sudden, quick- 
ened perception of what had been transpiring before 
his eyes. 

^‘You are not sick, aunty?’’ he asked, a little 
anxiously. 

Oh no, not really sick, but I cannot expect to 
be very well or vigorous now. 1 am getting to be 
an old woman, my dear.” 

Kent’s eyes moistened, though he scarcely knew 
why. He laughed to hide it. 

You are just as dear and handsome as ever,” 
he said. 

She smiled and laid her hand affectionately on 
his shoulder. 

After visiting the factory you must both come 
back and take tea with me before you go home.” 

I should like that,” said Amende, eagerly. 

And Kent always likes it,” Mrs. Gray added, 
with a pleasant glance toward her boy.” 

It was all new to A^ernie — the roar and crash 
of the great manufactory, the ceaseless roll of its 
wheels and the steady working of all its ponderous 
machinery. A feeling of awe stole over her. It 
almost seemed as though she had entered the cave 
of some great giant, and the workers toiling there 
with such regular, monotonous movement were his 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFORD. 


281 


slaves held there in dreary bondage. Kent watched 
it all with keen, interested eyes, turning toward 
her, now and then, with some shouted explanation 
which she could only partly catch by the motion 
of his lips. It was all wonderful and interesting, 
yet she drew a long breath of relief when they 
passed out into the open air again. At a little dis- 
tance from the building she paused and looked 
back. 

It seems strange how any one could have 
planned out all that,^^ she said. 

One did not,” Kent answered, quickly. It is 
the work of a great many different brains, in many 
different lifetimes, all gathered there. It is that 
which makes it seem so wonderful to me sometimes. 
Just think, Vernie, how some one has studied and 
worked and planned over a single one of those 
inventions, and then sent it out into the world 
to work on after he is dead, to be improved by 
others and made useful in ways he never thought 
of.” 

Vernie paused a moment over that thought. 

Yes, it is all strange, great and wonderful,” she 
said, at last, ^^but for all that I could not help 
pitying those people shut up in those great dark, 
noisy rooms this bright day.” 


282 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFORD. 


They are used to it. It is their daily work. 
They earn their living so, and appear very well 
satisfied.’’ 

Yes, I know, but it would seem good if every 
body could live in the light.” 

Some deeper meaning lying in her own words 
flashed across her then, and she was silent. Reach- 
ing Mrs. Gray’s again, Kent left her for a little 
while. He wanted to go to the woods and search 
for some violets under Teddy Cresly’s guidance. 
Teddy had informed them that there were some 
already in bloom. 

Vernie was well content to stay, and she and 
Mrs. Gray grew from acquaintanceship into friend- 
ship in their two hours’ talk. The girl questioned 
about her mother as Mrs. Gray had first known 
her long years before. 

And it is five years since you saw her last. It 
don’t seem to me that mamma grows old a bit. I’d 
like to have you see her now,” she said, with loving 
enthusiasm. 

I would like it, too, dear, but I cannot unless 
she comes to see me, and I suppose her life is too 
busy to allow her leaving home often. Perhaps 
she will come some day, but if not, the Father’s 
house with its ^ many mansions ’ lies only a little 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFOBD. 


283 


way beyond, and there will be such glad meetings 
as we can only dream of here.’^ 

So full of rest and peace her face was that Ver- 
nie, watching it, found her troubling thought 
springing to her lips. 

Oh, Aunt Gray, I wish I were a Christian 
She paused, wishing, for one instant, the words 
recalled. 

^^And are you not one, Yernie?’’ asked Mrs. 
Gray, very kindly and without seeming at all sur- 
prised. 

I don’t know. No, I suppose I’m not,” 
Yernie answered, sorrowfully. ^^At least, I am 
sure I have never felt as a great many people feel.” 

Mrs. Gray smiled : 

It is not very probable that you have. Think 
how many people there are in the world, and no 
two characters precisely alike.” 

But about this one thing, I mean,” said Yernie. 

Christians feel alike in this — that they trust in 
the Saviour, love him and desire to serve him.” 

Do not you feel this ?” 

^^Yes,” slowly and a little doubtfully; then, 
with a sudden resolve to give her confidence unre- 
servedly, she said, I’ll tell you how it is. Aunt 
Gray : I don’t even know when I first learned to call 


284 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFORD. 


God our Father; I have been taught of Jesus 
ever since I can remember, that he was the dearest, 
wisest, greatest, most loving Friend I had; that I 
must ask him for everything I wanted, tell him 
everything I was glad of or sorry for, and that he 
would hear and help me. It has seemed natural 
to do it always, to think of him as my Saviour. 
I know I am a sinner — I couldn’t help knowing 
that when I find it out so often — but I knew it was 
sinners that Christ came to save, and that, after all, 
he must do it all for us ; we cannot do anything to 
save ourselves, though, if we love him, we will try 
to do those things that please him.” 

“Well?” said Mrs. Gray as she paused. 

“ Well, one day, a few weeks before I came here, 
I went over to old Mr. Simms’ to carry a message 
from mother to his sister. She wasn’t at home, 
and he asked me to sit down a little while until she 
came. While I was waiting for her he asked me if 
I had ever ^ experienced^religion.’ I thought about 
it a minute, and I wasn’t quite sure what he meant, 
so I told him I didn’t know. ‘ Ah ! if you had, you 
would know,’ he said, and then he told me about 
himself. He thought he should be lost. He suf- 
fered so that he couldn’t sleep for it, and then 
afterward, when God had heard him, he was so 


CmXICS OF CLANNYFORI). 


285 


happy that he thought he would like to dn right 
away. I never felt like that. 

“He is a real good man/^ added Vernie, earn- 
estly, as she saw a faint smile on Mrs. Gray’s lips 
at her last words. 

“ I do not doubt it, my dear, nor that God has 
drawn him to himself. But our God has many 
ways of calling his children. Do you think that 
John, to whom the Saviour only said, ^ Follow me,’ 
and he left all and followed him, was any less a true 
disciple than Paul, w'ho was stopped on his jour- 
ney of persecution by a dazzling light and a voice 
from heaven ?” 

“Oh no,” answered Vernie, her face bright- 
ening. 

“ And suppose you had passed through all those 
experiences of which Mr. Simms told, what more 
could you feel at last than that Jesus is the great- 
est and best of friends, willing to love and save 
you ?” 

“But, Aunt Gray,” said Vernie, with a shadow 
of doubt in her voice, “ might it not be that I feel 
that way because I have always been taught so ?” 

“Perhaps you do — I do not think it makes 
much difference why it is, if it only is — but do 
you not think your education and circumstances 


286 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFORD. 


may have been just as much God’s appointed way 
of drawing you to him?” 

A quick light came to Vernie’s eyes. 

^AYhat Mr. Simms said to me that day has been 
troubling me now and then ever since. I am 
happy naturally, I think, but it would keep com- 
ing back to me, sometimes, that maybe I had no 
right to be — not any right to feel such a glad thrill 
when the days were bright, when they sang the 
hymns I like best in church, or'when I read some 
Bible chapters, and I couldn’t feel as he said he 
did.” 

And so you were trying to hold back the lov- 
ing, grateful feelings that were God’s voice in your 
heart? Ah, Yernie, never do that! The Bible 
does not anywhere say, ^feel like John,’ or Paul, or 
any one else; the command is only, ^ Come unto 
me,’ ^Follow me.’ Obey it, dear, as happily as 
you can, and trust him to give you all the ^expe- 
riences’ you need.” 

Yernie looked up with a smile, though some 
tears, not sorrowful ones, stood in her eyes. Mrs. 
Gray saw that the cloud had passed, and she left 
her alone for a little while, and went out to make 
her preparations for an early supper that her young 
guests might start homeward before dark. 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFOED. 


287 


Presently, Kent came in from his walk in tlie 
woods, his hands full of beautiful, delicate violets, 
and delivered them to Verniers delighted posses- 
sion. Mrs. Gray came in for a moment to admire 
them. 

“ They seem like the very breath of spring,’’ she 
said. 

Vernie busied herself with arranging them into 
two bouquets — one to leave with Mrs. Gray and 
the other to carry back to her uncle’s — while Kent 
filled vases with water to receive them. 

Supper over, they prepared to depart. 

You must try and come again, Vernie, before 
you go home,” Mrs. Gray said, standing in the low 
doorway. 

I will if I can,” Vernie answered, returning 
warmly her kiss. 

Kent looked back as they rode away. 

I am almost afraid she is sick ; it seems to me 
that she looks paler than she used to. You like 
her, Vernie?” 

^^Like her!” Vernie looked as though she 
thought that scarcely the right word. ‘‘Yes, in- 
deed, more than that ! I’m very glad I came.” 

It was a sweetly happy face that she carried 
back to the city that night, and that brightened 


288 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFORD. 


the great rooms in Mr. Graham’s house all the 
evening. The old housekeeper noticed it : 

The ride has done you good, Miss Vernie; 
your face is so bright and cheery.” 

I had a pleasant time. Yes, I’m very, very 
glad I went,” said Yernie, again. 

She told her Saviour how glad that night, draw- 
ing near to him in loving gratitude, and no longer 
afraid that he might question, the way by which she 
had come. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

ERNIE’S visit ended and she at home 
again, Kent, a little lonely, returned to his 
accustomed pursuits and interests, and the 
thought that had been only partially put 
aside came back to claim his earnest attention. It 
did not seem to be of much use to think about it, 
he acknowledged to himself; he did not see that 
there was anything he could do, yet he still kept 
thinking. 

^^Oh, there is something that I wish could be 
done, but I do not see any way to do it,” he said 
to Mrs. Gray one day. 

Perhaps it is something that is just as well, or 
better, left undone,” she answered. 

’ ^^I don’t know,” Kent replied, thoughtfully. 

It does not seem so ; it seems as though it might 
do a great deal of good.” 

Do you believe in our Saviour’s ^ whatsoever,’ 
Kent?” 

Kent looked at her questioningly. 

19 



289 


290 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFORD. 


‘ Whatsoever ye shall ask in ray uarae, that 
will I do, that the Father raay be glorified in 
the Son.’ 

^Verily, verily, I say unto you. Whatsoever ye 
shall ask the Father in ray name, he will give it 
you.’ 

“^Whatsoever’ is a broad, strong word, Kent; 
it covers a great deal. If your ^something’ is a 
good thing, how do you know that it does not 
cover that also ?” she asked. 

And after that Kent did more than think; he 
prayed. 

“Father,” said Kent, one morning, when Mr. 
Graham and himself were together in the library, 
“ don’t you think it w’ould be a good plan for some 
one to open a store at Clannyford ?” 

“Grocery?” asked Mr. Graham, laying down 
his paper. 

“ Yes, sir — well, that is, a few dry goods too — 
a real country store. There is none there, you 
know.” 

“Ko,” the gentleman answered, thoughtfully, 
looking somewhat interested. “I do not know 
that I ever thought of it before, but I believe it 
would be a good location. There are all the mill 
iiimilies, and with the exception of sending to town 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFORD. 


291 


occasionally, I suppose they have to go up to the 
station — nearly a mile — for everything/’ 

And there is only the one store when they get 
there,” said Kent. 

^^True. Yes, I think some enterprising mer- 
chant might find a good opening at Clannyford 
and do well. Have you heard of any one about 
starting there ?” 

Oh no,” Kent answered. 

What put it into your head, then?” asked his 
father, a little curiously. 

‘^Sam Cresly,” answered Kent, laughing. ^AVe 
were talking, two or three w^eeks ago, about the 
people buying from Favisham’s. It is so far that 
the men have most of them to go for things them- 
selves on Saturday nights, and then many of them 
get to drinking, and spend what they have in that 
way, instead of buying for their families. Sam was 
saying that if he could he would have a store in 
Clannyford where there should be no liquor sold. 
It would be nearer, and if a good one, would draw 
most of the mill custom, so that whoever opened 
it could do well, and at the same time it would be 
a great benefit to the people themselves.” 

Probably it might. That young Cresly is an 
intelligent, shrewd, industrious fellow ; I have no- 


292 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFORD. 


ticed him a number of times lately. Wasn’t it his 
father that was killed on the railroad ? — run over 
by the cars ?” 

“Yes, sir, up at Favisham’s. He had been 
drinking.” 

“So I was thinking. It is little wonder that 
Sam is bitterly opposed to liquor-selling; he has 
good cause. I am glad that he bids fair to turn 
out so differently from his father.” Mr. Graham 
took up his newspaper again. 

Kent was disappointed. His father had dis- 
cussed the subject as something not at all con- 
cerning himself, and he did not quite see how to 
renew the conversation and state what he wanted. 
Indeed, he scarcely knew what he did want. He 
had had a vague idea that his father might become 
interested in the matter, and himself propose some 
plan for opening a store in the village that would 
benefit the place, and at the same time afford Sam 
a situation. He did not doubt that he could easily 
make some such arrangement, but he had gone 
back to his report of congressional proceedings 
and seemed to think no more about it. 

“ But then he does not know them all as I do. 
He does not know who are trying to get along 
and keep from drinking, and who are struggling 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFORD. 


293 


and suffering. It is only natural that he should 
be less interested/^ he said to himself. Yet he 
was disappointed, and when the school-hour came, 
he walked away with a slower step than usual. 

The busy hours that followed banished the 
scheme for a time, but he could not quite decide 
that its fulfillment was impossible, and until he 
did, he could not drive all thought of it away. 
So it happened that when at home again in the 
evening, with a boolc* containing the next morn- 
ing’s lesson before him, he was neither reading nor 
studying, but looking quite beyond it. 

His father turned from the desk where he had 
been writing, and watched him for a few moments, 
with a smile : 

^^Well, Kent?” 

The boy started. 

^‘Ancient history did not have the benefit of 
that long reverie, I am afraid ; what was it ?” 

Kent glanced at his book. 

‘^No, I had forgotten all about the history. 
I was thinking” — hesitating a little — ^^of Sam 
Cresly and some of the Clannyford people.” 

And a new store,” added Mr. Graham. 

Kent suddenly colored and looked up surprised 
and half questioningly. 


294 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFORD. 


Mr. Graham met the glance with a steady, serious 
one for a moment. 

I will tell you what I will do, Kent,’^ he said. 

I do not wish to enter into any new business en- 
terprise myself : I have enough to attend to now, 
and sufficient income to satisfy me ; but if you think 
a store at Clannyford would not only pay for itself, 
but be also a great benefit to the place and people, 
and if you really care enough about having one 
there to undertake the business yourself — the plan- 
ning, responsibility and trouble — you can do so.” 

^‘Myself?” repeated Kent, wonderingly. 

I mean this : I will give you five hundred dol- 
lars to invest; you can engage young Cresly as 
your assistant or in any caj^acity you like, and 
manage the experiment to suit yourselves. I do 
not give any larger sum than that, because I think 
you will be much more likely to succeed by work- 
ing slowly and carefully, and not attempting too 
much at first, but only enlarging your operations 
v/hen the proceeds of your business will allow you 
to do so. Besides, I think that amount of money 
is about what the experience may be worth to you, 
even if your project should 2>rove unsuccessful. 
For a store-room you might use, if you liked, the 
old warehouse. It is a central location, and now 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFOMD. 


295 


that the new one, so mucli larger, is built near the 
mill, it is not particularly needed. You can have 
it for one year rent free, and after that, if the store 
should still be in existence, we can make some 
arrangement about it.’^ 

Kent was silent for several minutes. 

You are very kind, father. Oh dear ! I scarcely 
know what to think about it,^^ he said, at last. 

^^You must take time to think,’’ his father an- 
swered. You need not decide at once, and, of 
course, you 'need not accept the offer unless you 
choose. One thing, Kent — it is not to break in 
upon your school course, you know ; you must ar- 
range so as to avoid anything of the kind.” 

Kent did think. He was pleased, surprised, 
perplexed, a little anxious even already at the 
responsibility that might be his. Pie felt some- 
what doubtful about accepting it at first; it did not 
seem so easy and sure a way to benefit Clannyford 
as when he had thought of some one else under- 
taking it. Still, had it not come as an answer to 
his prayer ? — a fulfillment of the promised what- 
soever ” ? After all, thinking it over, there was 
something pleasant in the idea of having the enter- 
prise only Sam’s and his own — the store to be 
theirs, planned and arranged by themselves. It 


96 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFORD. 


aroused his boyish enthusiasm and energy, and at 
last he mounted Lio and rode out to talk over the 
matter with Sam. 

It was a warm, pleasant spring evening, and the 
two boys, going out to the river side, walked up 
and down along the shore while ^ Kent explained 
the proposition that had been made. Sam listened 
with sparkling eye and interested face. 

It’s what I’d do if I had money of my own, 
but then, you see, risking borrowed money is a dif- 
ferent thing. Your father — ” he said, hesitatingly. 

But it isn’t to be borrowed money at all,” Kent 
interrupted. He will give it to me, and he says 
he thinks the experience will be worth that even 
if we fail. So, you see, the money is mine, and I 
want you to go into partnership with me.” 

‘^That ain’t fair, either,” said Sam. You have 
all the capital and I can’t put in anything; that’s 
no way for a fellow to go into partnership.” 

Experience balances capital sometimes,” Kent 
suggested. 

“But I have no experience, either,” persisted 
Sam. 

“Well, your common sense then, or whatever 
you choose to call it,” said Kent, laughing. “ You 
know the plan was your own in the first place. 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFORD. 


297 


Sara, and you know a great deal more about it 
than I do, anyway. More than half the trouble 
and planning and work will be yours, too, so don’t 
bother any more about that.” 

They discussed the project pro and con, and 
viewed it in all the light in which it was presented 
to their eyes with more of bright expectation 
and buoyant hopefulness in their discussion, no 
doubt, than they might have known had they been 
older. 

‘^I’d like to see the inside of the warehouse; 
what kind of a room is it ?” said Sam, surveying 
the outside of that building with new interest as 
they walked back through the village street. ^^It’s 
a good while since I’ve been in it, and I sort of 
forget what it’s like.” 

I can easily get the key from Mr. Crail,” Kent 
answered. Wait a minute, and we will go in and 
see what it is like. It is almost empty now, I be- 
lieve.” 

He crossed the road, walked a short distance up 
the street to Mr. Grail’s house, and presently re- 
turned with the key. Sam, however, was missing, 
and Kent looked about wonderingly, but in a mo- 
ment or two his companion reappeared. 

^^I just thought we couldn’t see anything after 


298 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFORD. 


we got in without some kind of a light, so I went 
home and got a bit of candle/’ he explained. 

Kent unlocked the door ; they went in and closed 
it behind them ; then Sam drew a match from his 
pocket, and proceeded to illuminate the place, so 
far as his small taper could produce that eifect. 

It was a room twenty-five or thirty feet in length, 
not very wide nor particularly lofty, yet quite large 
enough for their purpose. Sam looked about him 
with a growing expression of satisfaction. 

“ It’ll do first rate !” he said, approvingly. We 
must get the place all cleared out, some shelves 
and a counter put up and some painting done. I’ll 
tell you what, Kent, I can do a great deal of that 
work myself.” 

Of course you can, as well as anybody,” Kent 
assented, readily. 

^‘I can do it evenings. If it does take some 
longer, why we ain’t in any great hurry, and it will 
save the money some. Yes, sir,” surveying the 
apartment from one end to the other ; it will be a 
nice place when it’s fixed up. We’ll start a store 
in Clannyford, and make the most we can.” 

‘^ Fairly and honestly,” added Kent. 

Yes, fair and honest is the word. We won’t 
cheat nor sell whisky,” said Sam, emphatically. 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFORD. 


299 


Kent went home and accepted his father’s offer. 
There were frequent trips out to Clannyford and 
numerous consultations in the weeks that followed. 
They obtained possession of the store-room, and 
Sam worked busily in the evenings and whenever 
he had any spare time, cheerful, hopeful and deeply 
interested in his work. He had considerable taste 
and ingenuity as well as mechanical skill, and he 
expended no little labor and care in arranging 
everything as nicely as possible. Kent closely 
watched the progress of the work, admired and 
commended. 

For a time they kept their purpose secret, but it 
could not long remain so in a village like Clan- 
nyford. The alterations in the old warehouse and 
Sam’s employment there were soon noticed and 
commented upon. Questions were asked and sur- 
mises made, and before long it was generally un- 
derstood that a new store was to be opened. 

It will be a great convenience, if it only is a 
good one,” was the common expression in regard 
to it. There was some shaking of heads and smil- 
ing wonderment over the young proprietors, but it 
was not known exactly how they came in that po- 
sition, and Mr. Graham’s known wealth was sug- 
gestive of a sufficiency of funds if the enterprise 


SCO 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFORD. 


were, as many supposed, really his. The boys 
kept their own counsel, only averring that the store 
was to be theirs. 

We will have to settle some plans about when 
we’ll be open,” said Sam, one night. You know 
how ’tis, Kent ; I’ve got my folks to look after, 
and it won’t do to give up my place in the mill till 
I’ve got something sure to depend on.” 

Kent assented. 

^‘Kow, I’ll tell you what I’ve been thinking,” 
Sam continued. We might have the store open 
for an hour in the mornings, before time to go to 
work : I could easy get up early enough for that ; 
th.en another hour at noon, and keep it open in the 
evenings.” 

But wouldn’t the people be likely to want 
articles during the rest of the day, and go up to 
Favisham’s ?” asked Kent, doubtfully. 

^^They wouldn’t much; it’s too far off. You 
see it’s different from what it would be if there 
was another store in the place. Most times they’d 
rather wait a little than w^alk a mile for ^vhat they 
want, and besides, they would soon get used to it, 
and remember to get things when the store is open. 
A good deal of the selling is done in the evening, 
anyhow.” 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFOBB. 


301 


^^Yes, I suppose that is so/’ Kent answered, 
thoughtfully ; so many of the people work in the 
mill through the day. We might do this, Sam — 
have some little bills printed and put up, stating 
at what hours the store will be open, and then it 
will be fairly understood.” 

“ That’s the idea !” said Sam, giving a finishing 
touch of paint to the drawer he was busy with. 

When we’re about ready to open, we’ll do that.” 

Teddy Cresly came to the door, and finding it 
not fastened, walked in. 

“ Halloa ! here you are ! Goin’ to look spel-en- 
did, ain’t it ?” he exclaimed, surveying the premises. 
Teddy was greatly delighted with the prospect of 
^^our store,” and was by no means an infrequent 
or unappreciative visitor. You fellers had better 
keep lots of peanuts ; peanuts takes, I tell you !” 
he added, with the air of one whose experience was 
worth something. ^ 

Kent laughed. 

Come, Ted, help pick up some of these brushes 
and things and put ’em away ; I’m ’most ready to 
go home now,” said Sam. 

As they stood in the doorway, preparing to de- 
part, one of the mill men, passing up the street, 
stopped. 


302 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFORD. 


“Well, liow does the new store come on?’^ he 
asked, with a bluff sort of kindliness. 

“All right; be ready to start before long, I 
guess,’^ Sam answered. 

The man put his head in at the door and took a 
brief glance by the aid of the light Sam had not 
yet extinguished. 

“Oh yes; you’re gettin’ things into shape. I 
hope you’ll do well at it.” Then he added, with a 
laugh, “ Goin’ to give a treat the day you open 
up ? Free glass to every customer ?” 

“No, indeed,” answered Kent, resolutely. 

“ No, sir,” added Sam, promptly. “ We ain’t 
goin’ to furnish whisky free, nor for money, to start 
with, nor end with, nor any way at all.” 

“ Oh, ho ! that’s the talk, is it ?” responded the 
man. “Well, I don’t care for my own part; if 
nobody cared for the stuff any more than I do, 
there’d be a sight less money wasted, but you’ll 
lose custom, I reckon.” 

Teddy was an interested listener to the conversa- 
tion, and the next day informed various acquaint- 
ances, in his not particularly private or confidential 
way, that “ our new store wouldn’t be ketched in 
any such mean business as sellin’ whisky.” So the 
report spread, and a few of that unfortunate class 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFOBD. 


303 


who persist in viewing their wrongs as among 
their most valued rights^’ took up their old cry: 

Folks needn’t try to meddle with other folks’ 
liberties. It’s a free country, and we’ve a right to 
do as we please ; nobody need try to hinder us.” 

Sam, going down early one morning, found a 
paper fastened to the warehouse door, containing a 
few lines rudely scrawled and badly spelled : 

Take notis. We doan’t want none of yer cold 
water stores here — no such ain’t needed; mind 
this, you’ll lose if you doan’t.” 

Sam quietly tore the paper down, and the next 
time he saw Kent showed it to him. 

Kent looked troubled. 

I wonder who did it ?” he said, examining it 
carefully. I didn’t suppose people would feel in 
that way about it.” 

They don’t — that is, nobody much. Most likely 
some boys did it. Maybe some of ’em that go to 
Favisham’s a good deal think they don’t want 
another store started, and then again maybe they 
did it for mischief, just to see whether it would 
scare us any, or what we would say to it,” Sam an- 
swered, coolly. It ain’t worth minding.” 

Kent looked at the paper again. 

^^They inform us that we had better mind it, 


304 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFORD. 


and that we shall lose if we doif t/^ he said, with 
a faint smile. 

^MVe’ll lose the custom of folks when theyhe 
after drink, and we don’t want that, anyway,” Sam 
replied, “but I don’t believe it will stop their 
coming to us for other things.” 

Kent went up to talk over the affair with Mrs. 
Gray. She knew all about the store, its prospects 
and plans, and was deeply interested in it. She 
was Kent’s chosen and faithful confidante and ad- 
viser in most matters, and many were the questions, 
perplexities and troubles he had carried to that 
quiet little room. She was inclined to view this 
subject as Sam had done — some boyish performance 
that was, probably, more the suggestion of idle mis- 
chief than of any settled ill will. 

“ In any case, I do not see that there is anything 
for you to do but to pay no attention to it and go 
straight forward. ^ Stand by your honor, your 
conscience, your faith,’ ” she said. 

Kent looked up with a smile : 

“ Thank you, aunty, that is a good watchword — 

‘Stand by your honor, your conscience, your faith, 

Stand like a hero, and battle till death.’ ” 

The young firm held long and earnest councils 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFOBD. 


305 


in regard to laying in their stock of goods — where and 
how and what they should buy to expend their money 
to the best advantage. Lists were carefully made 
out, looked over and reconsidered again and again. 
Kent had never before known what it was to count 
so closely cost and means, and Sam had never before 
had so much money to plan the disposing of, and 
both worked slowly and thoughtfully. They in- 
quired into prices, informed themselves in regard 
to salable articles and studied carefully to avoid 
mistakes and foolish outlays. 

The building being ready, Sam devoted several 
days to making purchases, and evinced no little 
natural talent for the business. Then, one Satur- 
day morning, Kent went out early to assist in put- 
ting things in order. His father, learning his errand, 
had said, ^^Take Mike with you, if you like; he 
may be useful, and he will not be needed here 
to-day.” So Mike, very willing to see for himself 

what sort of a shop Master Kint had, onyhow,” 
accompanied him. 

They had a busy day in the moving and placing 
of barrels and hogsheads and the arranging of boxes 
and jars. Mike’s great physical strength and ready 
good-nature made his assistance valuable, and 
Teddy was also present, helping and hindering by 
20 


306 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFOBD. 


turns. The show window was a great attraction to 
Teddy. He employed himself by placing various 
articles in it, running out to mark the effect from 
the outside, and then returning to displace them 
and substitute something else that might possibly 
be an improvement. He acquiesced very cheer- 
fully, however, when his arrangement was finally 
set aside by that of some one else and made himself 
useful by running of errands. Mrs. Gray saw him 
passing, and calling him in, sent down a neatly- 
packed basket of lunch and a tin pail of hot coffee 
to the workers. 

Before dark, the task being nearly accomplished 
and Mike’s aid no longer required, he returned to 
the city. 

Tell my father that I will come soon — in about 
an hour, I think,” Kent said as he w’as riding 
away. 

At last all was in order. Teddy had been sent 
home to supper, the two young proprietors were 
alone and stood for a few moments surveying their 
work in silence. They had no large quantity of any 
one article, neither had they that variety of articles 
that many groceries contain. Their shelves were 
by no means crowded, but everything was bright 
and new and it was theirs, and they looked about 


CIirNKS OF CLANNYFORD. 


307 


them well pleased, yet with some little feeling of 
anxiety in regard to the enterprise they were just 
ready to enter upon. 

^^Well,” said Sam, drawing a long breath, ^^it 
does look nice, don’t it ? Success to it !” 

A deeper thought was in Kent’s heart; it 
seemed like cowardice to leave it unspoken, and 
he said, earnestly : 

^^May God speed it! He only can.” 



CHAPTER XV. 


beautiful June day a bright new sign, 
All I admired by at least two pairs of eyes, was 
hung out — ‘‘Graham .& Cresly’^ — and a 
number of notices, announcing at what hours 
the new store would be open, had been posted in 
various parts of the village. 

There was quite a run of custom, or at least of 
customers, the first day. Many were drawn there 
quite as much from curiosity, no doubt, as from 
any need of the paper of pins or spool of thread 
that they purchased, while others there were who 
proved more profitable visitors. Mrs. Gray and 
Miss Grail looked in with friendly, cordial faces, 
and warmly commended the selection and arrange- 
ment of goods. 

“ I have quite a list for you to fill,’’ Miss Grail 
said, pleasantly. “Hannah has been putting off 
getting articles for the last week until you should 
be ready to supply them. A store so near will be 
a great convenience.” 

Maggie Nolan came in, blushing and smiling. 

308 



The New Firm 


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CHINKS OF CLANNYFOUD. 


309 


Share thin, it’s a fine shop! T\vo pounds of 
coffee an’ two pounds of sugar, if ye plase, an’ it’s 
glad I am, intirely,” she said, rather irrelevantly. 
But she was glad, grateful and hopeful. She had 
watched the opening and arranging of the new 
store with deep interest, looking forward to it as 
a strong ally in the battle she was waging. 

Talkin’ to a man that’s slipped down in the 
road an’ layin’ on the broad of his back is all right, 
but it’s not the same at all as rachin’ out a hand 
to help him up,” said Tim, significantly, as he ran 
over in the evening for the bit of ham ” for 
breakfast. 

Kent could not be there at noon, even on that 
important first day, though his thoughts turned 
often and anxiously in that direction, but he rode 
out in the evening to watch and assist for a little 
while and receive his partner’s assurance that all 
had gone well. That word of good cheer had just 
been whispered, however, when a man walked, not 
very steadily, to the counter, and asked for some- 
thing to drink. 

Don’t keep anything of the kind,” Sam an- 
swered. 

^‘What d’ye pretend to keep store ’tall for?” 
demanded the man, thickly. 


310 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFORD. 


‘^There’s no pretend about it. We do keep a 
store, but we don’t keep a rum-shop, and don’t 
mean to,” Sam replied, rather curtly. 

Where I can’t get my whisky, I won’t buy 
nothin’,” muttered the stranger, angrily, as he 
turned away. 

Looks as if he didn’t buy much but that, any- 
how,” Sam said, in a low aside to Kent, glancing 
from the poor fellow’s ragged clothing to his red, 
bloated face, as he passed out. He’s a new one — 
only moved here about two weeks ago, and got a 
place in the mill. He won’t have it long if he 
keeps on this way.” 

Three or four young men who had been loiter- 
ing near the door, laughing and talking together 
in a low tone, now started up, and one of them 
called out rudely : 

This place is too nice for us ; come, let us go 
up to Favisham’s, where there’s some fun.” 

Kent and Sam glanced at each other, but neither 
made any comment, and, after all, considering the 
events of the entire day, Kent went home well 
satisfied. 

There is no need to ask Kent in what direc- 
tion he is going for his morning ride,” Mr. Graham 
used to say, laughingly, in those early days of store- 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFORD. 


311 


keeping; ^^his horse’s head is always turned in 
one direction.” Yet, as his stipulation that studies 
should not be broken in upon was faithfully ob- 
served, he was pleased with an arrangement that 
gave Kent so much healthful, out-of-door exercise 
in riding to and fro, while at the same time it 
would be likely to furnish him valuable lessons 
in business knowledge and habits and strengthen 
his judgment and self-reliance. He felt consider- 
able interest in the enterprise too, though he seldom 
manifested it by asking any questions. He did not 
wish to give advice or to have the boys consider 
him as at all concerned in the matter. 

Sam Cresly had found in the new scheme occu- 
pation that he liked. It was something to think 
of, hope and plan for, and he went to work 
with all his energy. It seemed to give him 
a bit of solid ground to build his bright visions 
upon, and he looked forward very hopefully. In 
one way it was much more to him than to his 
young companion : Kent knew no need of money, 
but Sam did ; and this appeared an opening into 
what might yet prove to him steady and profitable 
employment and enable him to surround those at 
liome with longed-for comforts and advantages. 
Teddy and Susie, understanding but little about 


312 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFOBD. 


it, considered the new business quite an advance- 
ment. Susie’s face was radiant with smiles when 
she carried a basket to ^^our store” for anything, 
and Teddy looked upon ^‘brother Sam” with in- 
creased respect — a salutary effect, since it made him 
more willing to defer to his wishes and opinions. 
Even Mrs. Cresly, visiting the store, looked about 
her with a faint, gratified smile on her faded face, 
and felt something like a glow of motherly pleasure 
when several spoke to her of what a benefit the 
store was to the place and of how well Sam was 
liked. 

He w^as liked. He seemed by a resolute effort 
to have thrown off the last vestige of half-sullen 
shyness that once had made him so reticent and kept 
others at a distance from him, and the result was 
added self-respect and a pleasant respectfulness of 
manner toward others. He was kind, obliging 
and thoroughly honest in his dealings, and as he 
had proved right in what he had once told Kent — 
that they could sell some articles at less price than 
the people had been accustomed to pay for them — 
the new store became popular with the majority of 
the denizens of Clannyford. 

Kent watched his companion with something of 
wonder in his pleasure. 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFORI). 


313 


I believe storekeeping is the right place for 
you, Sam/^ he said; ^^yoii seem to have a natural 
talent for it/’ 

Don’t know about the talent,” Sam answered, 
smiling, but I know I like it, and some way it 
seems to come easier and handier to me every day.” 

Everything went smoothly for several weeks, 
and the young merchants had several times con- 
gratulated each other upon tliat pleasant fact, when 
Kent, going out early one Saturday morning with 
the intention of spending his weekly holiday in the 
village, stopped first at the store, as usual, and 
found Sam with a troubled face. 

What is it? anything the matter?” he asked 
as soon as they were alone for a moment. 

^^The matter is somebody’s been in here last 
night. I don’t know what to make of it, either, 
for there ain’t anything carried off, as I can see.” ^ 

He paused, for just then old Hannah came hur- 
rying in. 

^^I’se most tired out runnin’ over; was ’feared 
you’d done shut up de store ’fore I got here. Corn 
meal’s what I come fur,” she said, panting, but 
smiling good-naturedly, as she handed her pail to 
Sam. Clean forgot ’bout wantin’ dem corn muf- 
fins for supper till jes’ a minute or two ago, an’ I 


314 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFOBD. 


don’t have no use for corn muffins ’less dey’re well 
raised.” 

Kent waited anxiously until she was supplied 
and had taken her departure. 

W ell ?” he said, quickly, the moment she was 
gone. 

Well, I found the old shutters at that side win- 
dow all loose,” Sam answered, and the window 
had been up. It’s plain enough somebody was 
here and scattered things about considerable and 
looked into everything, but there ain’t anything 
at all gone, as I can find out, and I can’t make out 
what they were after.” 

There was no money here ?” said Kent, ques- 
tioningly. 

^^Ko; I don’t leave that any time. But they 
couldn’t expect to get much of that, and if they 
broke in to steal, I don’t see why they didn’t do 
it, and if they wasn’t after that, what did they 
come for? that’s what seems queer to me. It 
looks as if they’d spilt a little coal oil, and might 
have tasted of the salt and sugar and scattered it 
about some, but they didn’t take enough of any- 
thing to be missed, anyhow, and I can’t make any- 
thing out of it,” said Sam, with a perplexed face. 

Well, I must be off to the mill.” 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFORD. 


315 


I will stay a little while and look around/’ said 
Kent, ^^and see if I can find out anything about 
it.” Sam hurried away, and Kent closed the door 
as usual, but remained within to examine the place. 
He looked about carefully, but could not discover 
that anything was missing. Then he examined the 
window that had been mentioned. It evidently 
had been raised, and there were marks that showed 
where the shutters had been pried open — not a very 
difficult task, as they were old and did not close 
tightly — and there were also marks of feet on 
the new light paint of the sill. Still, at last, he 
could only arrive at the conclusion that whoever 
had entered must have been in pursuit of money, 
and failing in finding it, had gone away without 
taking anything. One thing he did decide upon, 
however — that the old shutters must be replaced 
by new ones and the building made more secure. 
They had thought comparatively little about that 
in their first arrangements, located as they were in 
a little village that was usually so quiet and order- 
ly that thieving was seldom heard of. But it was 
time to think of it now, and planning some changes 
to that effect, he finally locked the door and walked 
away. 

At noon, when the store was again open, he and 


316 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFORD. 


Sam talked the matter over for a few moments, but 
they were presently interrupted by another visit 
from old Hannah — this time on an errand new to 
their brief experience. 

I’se brought back dat corn-meal. Why, it’s so 
strong wid coal ile I can’t do nuffin wid it ! Ain’t 
noways like what we had las’ time,” she said.'] 

Coal oil?” said Sam, in astonishment. ^AVhy, 
how can there have been any coal oil about it?” 

Well, dar is,” reaffirmed the old woman, posi- 
tively. Jes’ see for yerse’f Thought I’d come 
back an’ tell ye ’fore ye sole any more, ’cause ’tain’t 
fit for folks nohow.” 

It does smell strongly of coal oil, that is cer- 
tain,” said Kent, who had taken the pail. 

Sam came up and examined it. 

^^It does, that’s a fact,” he admitted, after a mo- 
ment, but I don’t see how it came so ; the oil 
ain’t near the meal, anyhow.” 

He took Hannah’s pail and went to the barrel 
from which its contents had been taken. ^^It’s all 
alike, anyway,” he said, looking somewhat troubled 
as he came back, yet speaking pleasantly. We 
must get some new', but I don’t see as that will 
help you to-day.” 

Oh, doin’ widout’s no great hurt ; wee’ll do well 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFORD. 


317 


nuff. I’se sorry yer meal’s spiled, though,” Han- 
nah answered, speedily forgetting all annoyance of 
her own in kindly sympathy for others, as her warm 
heart was wont to do. 

She' had been gone but a few minutes when a 
little girl came in — one of Mrs. Clark’s merry, 
healthful brood — her bright eyes opened round and 
wide with the importance of her message. 

Please, ma says it’s queer kind of salt you sent 
her. It sweetened everything she put it into, and 
the soup was clear spoiled.” 

Sweetened everything ! that was odd !” Kent 
answered. ^^Sam,” in a low tone, ^^you didn’t 
send sugar instead of salt, did you ?” 

Ko, it ain’t likely I did,” Sam replied. I 
got it out of that barrel.” 

Kent went to the one he pointed out, and after a 
moment called Sam to come too. Taste of that,” 
he said. 

Sam complied. 

Salt and sugar together !” he exclaimed. 

Yes, and this in the paper is the same,” Kent 
responded. 

That’s what was done last night, then — mixing 
up things in this way,” Sam said, after a minute’s 
silence. 


318 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFORD. 


suspect you are right/^ answered Kent, much 
troubled. What can we do now ?” looking back 
to where the little girl still stood waiting. 

\Ye can send a little bag of table-salt ; they’re 
all right, I guess,” Sam replied, and Kent carried 
one and gave it to the child. 

Yes, I think there is nothing the matter with 
that, but we don’t know what has been meddled 
with and what has not,” he whispered as he went 
back to his companion. I don’t see any way for 
us but to taste everything before we sell it.” 

Sam was lifting out some salt fish for a customer, 
and looked up with rather a forlorn smile. 

I don’t want to taste raw mackerel, but they 
don’t smell of coal oil, and I guess there’s no sugar 
about ’em,” he said. 

It was a relief to them both when the mill bell 
rang, and promptly at one o’clock Sam closed the 
door. They looked into each other’s face — troubled 
faces both were. 

I must stay till I see what all is wrong, if I 
do lose half a day at the mill,” said Sam. “You 
see how it is, Kent. It wasn’t anybody that came 
to steal at all ; they only wanted to spoil things — 
maybe to hurt us, and maybe it was for what they’d 
call fun ; mean fun, I should say !” 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFORD. 


319 


And just as much harm as stealing, for it has 
robbed us all the same/’ answered Kent, sadly, for 
he felt anxious and discouraged, Well, let us go 
to work and see what they have done.” 

The meal was entirely ruined for all culinary 
purposes : that was soon apparent. A small quantity 
of the kerosene had been sufficient to impregnate 
thoroughly the whole barrel. As for the salt, ex- 
changes had been made between that and a barrel 
of sugar, what was taken from one having been 
put in the other, so that in neither the quantity 
should seem diminished, and yet both be unfit 
for use. In these, however, the work of mischief 
had not been done so thoroughly, and after re- 
moving a considerable quantity from the top of each, 
the remainder was found to be uninjured. 

^^It is better than I feared,” Kent said, when 
they had assured themselves of this last fact. 

‘‘Likely they didn’t have time to go clear to 
the bottom. It’s bad enough, anyhow,” Sam an- 
swered, gloomily. Then after a brief pause, in 
which they both worked on in silence, he said: 
“ Kent, I don’t expect anything like this ever hap- 
pened to Favisham?” 

“Ko, I suppose not,” Kent replied, wondering 
a little. 


320 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFORD. 


Yet he ain’t above cheating, sells whisky and 
makes money any way he can, and we are trying 
to get along fair and honest, and to help other folks 
as well as ourselves. Why should this happen to 
us instead of him if — if God really does care for 
them that’s trying to do right ?” Sam spoke the 
last sentence somewhat hesitatingly, 

“ I know he does care ; I don’t know why this 
was allowed to happen,” Kent answered slowly, 
so suddenly called upon both to exercise and avow 
his faith ; ^^only I am sure that it is best, however 
it may look now,” he added, more confidently. 

I don’t think that God wants us to do right 
just because we believe it is the easiest and the 
surest way of getting along well, but because it 
is right.” 

Sam made no reply, and Kent was thoughtful. 
He had not said quite what he wished, and it was 
not easy to put his thoughts into words. Presently 
a better plan occurred to him. 

Sam,” he said, will you read the third chapter 
of Malachi to-night? I mean the last part of it 
particularly.” 

“ Well, yes,” Sam answered. The conversation 
dropped, and they went to looking over the rest 
of their stock. 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFORD, 


321 


A careful examinatiou revealed a barrel of 
wheat flour also flavored with the kerosene, and 
some mingling of rice and starch, beans and cofiee, 
but that was all. The boys grew more cheerful 
after they had discovered the entire extent of the 
damage. 

^‘We ainT broke up this time, anyway,’’ Sam 
remarked, at length. Maybe they thought that 
because we’re only boys we would give up if they 
bothered us some. Maybe, too, they thought we 
wouldn’t find out what had been done until we’d 
sold a good deal, and that if folks bought poor 
things from us once, they’d go to Favisham’s next 
time. But we won’t have to stop just yet, and I 
don’t believe anybody’ll try this over again.” 

‘^We must fix up the place more securely, for 
one thing, and have new shutters on as soon as 
possible. We were too careless about that,” Kent 
said. 

^^Yes, and for another thing, I mean to sleep 
here for a while,” Sam answered. 

Kent looked at his companion : the boy of seven- 
teen was only a boy in size or strength. ^^And 
what if any one should come in ?” he asked, doubt- 
fully. 

^‘Oh, they’re not the kind to rob or murder,” 
21 


322 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFORD. 


Sam said, understanding his partner’s thought. 

They would do such a mean, cowardly thing as 
this and laugh over it, likely, but they wouldn’t 
come in if they knew there was any one here. 
I don’t much believe they’d try it again, anyway, 
if we just keep quiet and go on as if we paid no 
attention to it.” 

About those things that are spoiled ? We must 
try and replace them,” said Kent. 

‘^Yes, we ought to do that as soon as 'we can. 
It is a good thing we have some money left.” 

Then suppose I ride into town right away and 
send them out this afternoon, while you are here to 
attend to them ?” 

Well; the flour and corn meal, that is. There 
is sugar and salt enough to last some time yet, and 
as for the beans and coffee, Ted and Susie can sep- 
arate ’em, if it ain’t quite so easy as it was to mix 
’em. I’ll tell you, Kent, that corn meal and flour 
w.e have we can sell out cheap to feed chickens 
with. It ain’t likely they’ll care if it does taste 
of coal oil and Sam laughed, quite like his cheer- 
ful, hopeful self again. 

Perhaps not. I hope it will answer for that ; it 
isn’t flt for anything else,” Kent replied, and hur- 
ried away to mount Lio. 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFOEV. 


323 


Arriving in town, he purchased the articles agreed 
upon at once, and having seen them started for 
Clannyford, he turned his steps homeward feeling 
neither as blithe nor buoyant as he had done when 
he went away in the morning. 

^^You are home earlier than I expected,’’ his 
father said, looking up at his entrance. 

^^Yes, sir; I came in to send out some things 
for the store.” 

^^Ah, that was it.” He asked no questions, and 
Kent, after a moment’s thought, decided to say 
nothing about the occurrences of the day. He did 
not see that it could do any good, and as, in ac- 
cepting the position, he had declared himself willing 
to assume the care, responsibility and trouble it 
might bring, it did not seem quite fair to burden 
others with the story of them, especially in cases 
where it could be no real advantage to do so. Be- 
sides, there was a feeling, though perhaps he was 
scarcely conscious of it, that some mistakes and 
mishaps would be easier told of by and by, when 
they should have, if possible, struggled through 
and retrieved them. A not unnatural feeling it 
was. Many people can show their scars and speak 
of them bravely when they can serve as guidance 
or warning to others, but few can bear to have 


324 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFORD. 


even kindly eyes look too closely into a fresh 
•wound. 

Sam, busy all the evening, was watchful, too, 
over those who came and went, but he could dis- 
cover no clue to the authors of the last night’s mis- 
chief. He mentioned the subject to no one, and no 
remarks made to him evinced any knowledge of 
what had happened. Everything went on as usual. 
He had decided to sleep in the store, but after clos- 
ing he went up home for a while. He usually 
found time still for an hour of study, and this 
evening he must prepare for the morrow’s Bible 
class. Tired though he was, he remembered his 
promise to Kent, and turned to the chapter he had 
asked him to read. 

Ye have said. It is vain to serve God : and what 
profit is it that we have kept his ordinance, and 
that we have walked mournfully before the Lord 
of hosts? 

And now we call the proud happy ; yea, they 
that work wickedness are set up; yea, they that 
tempt God are even delivered.” 

It was so exactly his own thought, though in dif- 
ferent words, that the boy started. 

It is just about the same question that I asked 
Kent to-day,” he said to himself. ^^It is queer 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFOBD. 


325 


how there is something in the Bible to fit every- 
thing 

Then he read on, not why the wicked seemed 
sometimes to prosper, but the solemn assurance, 
A book of remembrance was written before him, 
for them that feared the Lord, and that thought 
upon his name. 

^^And they shall be mine, saith the Lord of 
hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels ; and 
I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son 
that serveth him. 

Then shall ye return, and discern between the 
righteous and the wicked, between him that serveth 
God, and him that serveth him not.^^ 

A feeling of mingled pain and awe stole over 
the reader. Not here, but afterward, should all 
things be made equal, not now, but in the day 
when he makes up his jewels, and though Sam 
had taken up the complaint that the wicked were 
set up and they that tempt God even delivered, he 
did not like to think of that coming day to which 
he was pointed for an answer. He could dimly 
understand that such words might have comfort in 
them for those who really served the Lord,’' 
stilling their questioning and fears, and strengthen- 
ing faith. But to him, trying to build up for him- 


326 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFORD. 


self a sure inheritance here, it was another of the 
forcible and unwelcome reminders that life could 
not, would not, be all. Perhaps, too, in the ques- 
tion he had asked, he had been seeking some excuse 
for stifling conscience, when it urged upon him the 
claims of a higher, purer service, by the reply that 
even in the good he had tried to do misfortune 
had been allowed to come : It is vain to serve 
God : and what profit is it that we have kept his 
ordinance 

But such words were utterly swept away by that 
solemn prophecy, ^^Then shall ye return, and dis- 
cern between the righteous and the wicked, between 
him that serveth the Lord and him that serveth 
him not.’^ 

Sam slowly turned the leaves and hid the chap- 
ter from his sight, but he could not so easily turn 
from its memory. 



CHAPTER XVI. 

AM slept in the store that Saturday night, 
and many nights thereafter, but his slum- 
bers were undisturbed by any invasion 
of the premises. AVeeks rolled by, and 
brought Kent’s midsummer vacation, the greater 
portion of which he spent at Clannyford, planning, 
consulting and working with Sam. A few of the 
mill people still traded with Favisham, who pre- 
tended to feel only a good-natured contempt for 
what he called ^^that child’s playhouse down in 
the village.” 

It would soon fall through,” he said, yet de- 
spite his prediction it still flourished and continued 
to grow in friends and custom. As its young pro- 
prietors increased in experience and courage, they 
increased their stock and introduced new articles 
that found ready favor. 

Mr. Graham visited the establishment one day, 
his clear, keen, discerning eyes seeming to notice 
everything, Sam thought, as he furtively watched 
him. He offered no suggestions, however, and his 

327 



328 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFOBD. 


few criticisms and comments were so pleasant that 
the boy’s cheek fluslied with pleasure. 

Yes, they are doing a good business — for them- 
selves, I hope, and surely for the place,” said Mr. 
Crail, who had accompanied Mr. Graham. It is 
a great convenience to the people to have a store 
here, but it has been a greater benefit still to some ^ 
of them — your friend, Tim Nolan, Kent, and a 
few of his class. Do you know I have had no 
trouble with them lately ? They have been work- 
ing steadily and soberly ever since you started.” 

Kent looked up with brightening eyes. 

No, I did not know ; I only hoped it was so,” 
he answered, feeling that these few words from the 
usually reticent Mr. Crail were worth a great deal. 

There were others, also, to speak words of good 
cheer and encouragement, and what opposition had 
at first existed seemed gradually to pass away, and 
from being an experiment, the store began to take 
its place in public thought and that of its young 
proprietors as an established fact. Whether the 
more secure arrangement of the building and Sam’s 
sleeping watch there had prevented depredations, 
they could not tell, but they were not again mo- 
lested, and when, at the close of the first six mocths, 
they examined carefully into their profits and losses, 


CHI^^KS OF CLANNYFORD. 829 

tlieir standing and prospects, they felt that, not- 
withstanding some mistakes of ignorance and inex- 
perience, they had been successful, and had no cause 
to doubt the propriety of going forward. One 
change was made, however. Increased custom 
made it necessary to keep the store open longer 
than they had done at first, and an arrangement 
was effected with Mr. Grail by which Sam was 
allowed to go to the mill later and leave it earlier. 

In the autumn Kent received a letter from Lewis, 
announcing that it had finally been decided that he 
should accept the offer of his mother’s cousin, Mr. 
Austin, and accompany him to the Sandwich Isl- 
ands. Kent answered by going out to the farm- 
house for a visit before his cousin should leave 
home, and the three boys wandered about over the 
place and walked once more to the lake side — for 
the last time in nobody knows how long,” Lewis 
said. He was in high spirits himself, only a little 
saddened, now and then, by what he could not help 
seeing of the sadness of others. The look that 
flitted over his mother’s face would call an answer- 
ins: shadow to his own, for he was affectionate and 
warm hearted and held dear what he was leaving, 
but his dreams, ambition and eagerness for change 
and adventure made the future appear so bright 


330 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFORD. 


that a thouglit of it swiftly smiled away his re- 
grets. 

Mr. Austin had already paid them a visit and 
gone on to Hudson to see his daughter. On his 
return he intended stopping but a day or two, and 
Lewis was to go with him. Mrs. Mead and Vernie 
were busy in sewing, packing and making countless 
loving arrangements for the comfort of the young 
traveler, yet through it all the mother’s heart 
found ample time for fear and sorrow. 

What mother can keep her boys always with 
her?” Mr. Mead said, one day, when coming in 
suddenly he found her with tearful eyes. 

I know,” she said. But Lewis is young and 
so careless and thoughtless, and the world is full 
of temptation.” 

And is our own home quite out of the world, 
dear wife ?” 

N^o, but home influence, our watchfulness and 
care are something. I may be foolishly anxious, 
perhaps” — she tried to smile — ^^but life holds so 
many terrible possibilities.” 

^^And what ever stands between us and their 
fulfillment but His great love who pitieth those 
that fear him ^even as a father pitieth his chil- 
dren’?” 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFORD. 331 

“ I know/’ she answered, again, and if Lewis 
were only a Christian — She paused. 

^^Ah, Hetty! what mother’s love can make her 
child that ? Trust him, here or there, to the One 
who can. He is only going from our sight, not 
from our prayers, our faith or our God,” her hus- 
band answered. 

Lewis did not share or understand any such 
fears, and even Jasper was inclined to think that by 
far the darkest side of the picture was turned to- 
ward those who remained, inasmuch as they should 
have nothing new to interest them; — nothing but 
the old life and old work, only lonelier,” he said. It 
would certainly be lonelier for him. He had never 
been separated from his brother, and notwithstand- 
ing some diversities of taste, they had been con- 
stant companions, sleeping or waking, in the 
orchard, field or attic workshop. The parting 
was harder than either of them had thought when 
the day for it really came. But Lewis whistled 
the same tune over and over again, and hurried 
about, doing various things that there was no par- 
ticular need of his doing, while Jasper tried to 
find a safe expression for his feelings in expending 
his nicest printing upon the card that was to go on 
Lewis’ trunk. At last the packing was all over, 


332 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFORD. 


the good-byes said and the trunks locked and taken 
away, leaving to the room that peculiar desolate 
look that a room will always wear after such leave- 
taking. The mother stole away to her own cham- 
ber. She was beginning to realize in these last 
few days that her children were fast becoming chil- 
dren no longer; she felt like questioning sadly, 
with another mother — 

“Where, oh where, are my little ones gone?” 

Even Tildy, who had always viewed boys as 
very questionable comforts, and had serious doubts 
as to their mission being of any great value, wiped 
her eyes with her apron as she picked up the va- 
rious articles that had been scattered about, and 
finally observed, 

A racket is bad enough, to be sure, but I do 
believe too much stillness is worse — so there ! I 
wouldn’t mind if there was some law against break- 
ing up families any such way.” 

Yernie laughed through her tears at that propo- 
sition. 

J ust think what kind of a world that would 
make, Tildy !” she said. 

Don’t know about the world,” answered Tildy, 
looking at the matter only as it affected herself, 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFOBD. 


333 


but I know ’twould have made it a sight pleas- 
anter here to-night. Well, since he’s gone, I hope 
he’ll have a good time and be comfortable among 
the Sandwiches.” 

Kent tarried a day or two longer, and then left 
them for home, being too much a man of busi- 
ness to make long visits now,” Jasper remarked, 
mischievously. And, indeed, Kent’s life had been 
so busy of late that he did not feel quite content to 
remain long away from his accustomed pursuits 
and interests. He had received one letter from 
Sam while at his uncle’s, containing some little 
items of intelligence and the assurance that every- 
thing was going well. Sam did not write badly. 
He had, with practice and care, acquired a firm, 
smooth hand, and tolerably correct orthography, 
while grammatically he wrote much better than 
he talked, Kent thought. It was a fact not diffi- 
cult to account for, since in talking, though he had 
improved by study and reading, he yet used, with- 
out thinking or noticing, many of the old pronun- 
ciations and arrangements of words to which he 
had been accustomed from childhood. But writing 
came less naturally ; it required more thought and 
care, and in it he adopted more the language with 
which he had grown familiar in books. 


334 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFORB, 


Keeping the store open more hours each day 
proved a benefit to Sam in a way that he had not 
anticipated. Customers, no longer restricted to 
so short a time in which to make purchases, did 
not crowd in so rapidly, and he found himself in 
possession of intervals of leisure that he soon 
learned to improve by having some book lying 
near where he could take it up. He could now 
indulge in the luxury of buying a book occasion- 
ally, though he did not do it often ; he had a feel- 
ing that such outlay would be selfish while so 
many things were still needed in his home. That 
home and its inmates, however, showed already 
many tokens of the brighter days that had come to 
them. The place began to wear a comfortable, 
homelike air, and its occupants were growing more 
into a family in respect, attention and thought for 
each other. 

They were beginning to hold quite a different 
position in the village, too. People had pitied 

old Cresly’s family ” in their poor, forlorn con- 
dition, ragged and dirty — they had only pitied, 
not respected, them. But Sam’s steady, persever- 
ing industry, and his untiring efforts to support his 
mother and the children honestly and respectably, 
had won sincere sympathy and respect. He had 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFORD. 


335 


grown into favor and esteem, too, since he had been 
in the store, and the family, neatly and comfort- 
ably dressed, were no longer regarded as they once 
had been. Mrs. Cresly, going down to the store 
one day in pretty print dress and white collar, 
and meeting one and another of the village people 
there, began dimly to understand that young 
Cresly’s mother was not considered altogether the 
same as the drunkard’s wife had been — that, indeed, 
there was no excuse for her being quite what that 
poor woman had been. If she was treated with more 
respect, it was probably because she and her family 
appeared more respectably, and having gained some 
comprehension of that fact, she strove to awaken 
to more interest and activity. Very skillful in 
planning or efficient in execution she never would 
be, but her doing her best added not a little to the 
comfort of the household. 

Teddy and Susie went regularly to school, Teddy 
not very fond of it yet, but less rebellious on the 
subject than he had been at first. He had become 
quite useful in the store. His talent for acquaint- 
ing himself with all his surroundings had enabled 
him to become readily familiar with the various 
articles, their place and prices, and he soon learned 
the art of tying up a parcel neatly and rapidly, so 


336 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFOBI). 


that Sam was often glad of his help when there 
were many in. Teddy was therefore able to grat- 
ify his taste for storekeeping frequently, and, as he 
took care to impress upon Susie, it was some real 
good — selling things honest; not getting away 
folks’ money for worse’n nothing, and sending ’em 
home drunk to abuse everybody, like it would have 
been at Favisham’s.” 

So, comfortable, and with brightening hopes and 
prospects, the winter found them — a winter freighted 
with rich blessings to many, and never to be for- 
gotten. 

The Sabbath-school, begun in weakness, had 
been growing and strengthening. Nearly all the 
village children had been gathered into it. The 
•Bible class had enlarged, also, and the corps of 
teachers had increased, not so much in numbers; 
but in energy, efficiency and love for their work as 
they gained in experience. But as the winter fell, 
there seemed to be a deeper interest manifested by 
both teachers and pupils — more intense earnest- 
ness in those who spoke and those who listened. 
Eyes that were wont to wander grew eagerly at- 
tentive, and the usual calm utterances of prayer 
from one lip and another began to grow broken 
and tremulous. Questions of sacred history, geog- 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFORD. 


337 


raphy and disputed points of doctrine gave way 
before the all-absorbing story of redemption — the 
star, the cross, the riven tomb. Ararat, Pisgah 
and Carmel, with all their interest, grew dim be- 
fore Mount Calvary, and to any one who took up 
another topic, anxious hearts could scarce refrain 
from saying, like those of old, Sir, we would see 
Jesus.’^ 

The same feeling was manifest in the other Sab- 
bath services of the village. In the city churches 
there was a great awakening — in many of them a 
solemn, glorious harvest of souls — and still the in- 
fluence deepened and extended. More than one 
Christian heart in Clannyford, hearing at a distance 
the glad cry, Jesus of Nazareth passeth by,’^ 
had been pleading earnestly that even here, also, 
his dear presence might come. 

The city pastors, busy though they were, had a 
common interest in this little corner of the vine- 
yard, and they could not neglect it. They arranged 
that each in turn should give to it an evening, and 
so meetings were appointed in the little school- 
house for every evening in the week. The people 
thronged there, earnest and attentive, and an im- 
pressive silence marked the gathering, as if the lis- 
teners would fain catch every word and the Holy 
22 


338 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFORD. 


Spirit liad breathed a solemn hush upon all rest- 
lessness and trifling. Many eyes were tearful, 
many voices choked with emotion. Pale, sad faces 
changed to joyous, radiant ones in those weeks. 
Some hearts, aching and troubled, resisted, strug- 
gled and questioned still; some hearts, burdened 
beyond all bearing, found Him who only could 
say, “Go in peace; thy sins are forgiven thee.” 
Night after night promises, invocations and warn- 
ings were repeated, urged and explained, fervent 
prayers were ofiered and hymns sweet, though 
often tremulous, were sung. 

Evening after evening Sam Cresly was in his 
place drinking in every word. He scarcely knew 
why he had gone at first, but after that he could 
not stay away. The question he had for months 
been trying to turn from or put aside came back 
now with redoubled power, and spoke in a voice 
that would be heard — the old, old question ; “ What 
shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world 
and lose his own soul ?” Nothing ! nothing ! He 
knew and felt it now, and his share of the world, 
its ambitions and hopes he would gladly have given 
if so he could have purchased salvation. But he 
could not ; he had learned that. It was no longer 
a question of what he would give up or what he 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFORD. 


339 


would keep. He had seeu himself a sinner, lost, 
undone, and day by day the sore, troubled, an- 
guished soul felt its weight of guilt more’ and more 
oppressive. Sadder and sadder his face grew. Even 
the mother, not usually observant, noticed his deep 
dejection — noticed that his books were laid aside, 
and that he no longer took them up when he came 
in, but sat, with his head bowed upon his hands, 
silent and thoughtful. 

-^^What is the matter, Sammy she asked. 

What ails you 

Nothing,’’ he answered, and then, as conscience 
whispered, ^^Dare you call your sin, your soul’s 
peril, nothing ?” he added : I mean, nothing that 
you can help.” 

Faithfully he went through with his accustomed 
round of duties. His labor in the mill he was so 
familiar with that it scarcely required any thought, 
but his employment in the store, calling for care 
and attention, was more irksome. Scrupulously he 
fulfilled its demands, but he had lost his pleasure 
in it. Hays when there were many customers and 
rapid sales brought no glow of satisfaction now — 
none of the buoyant feeling of hopefulness that he 
had been wont to know. What shall it profit ?” 
seemed written on everything. 


340 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFOBD, 


We will not try to follow him through all the 
mazes of doubt, struggle and questioning in which 
he wandered : what pen so skilled that it can trace 
through every intricate winding, down to its very 
depths, the working of an immortal soul ? Whether 
the faith within us has been of such slow and gradual 
growth that we ourselves cannot tell when we first 
began to believe and to love, or whether the transi- 
tion from the old life to the new has been marked 
by a sharp, dividing line, there lies in it still a 
mystery : The wind bloweth where it listeth, and 
thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell 
whence it cometh and whither it goeth ; so is every 
one that is born of the Spirit/^ And only God can 
know every step of the way by which any one of 
his children became alive in Christ. 

Sam felt, in those painful days, that his soul 
stood alone before its Maker. The people about 
him seemed far off ; they could not come near or 
bring help or comfort. He felt himself in dreary 
solitude, desolate, lonely, helpless, until his eyes 
were at last opened to behold One at his side who 
was w^aiting, willing, mighty to save — One who 
^‘hath borne our sins and carried our sorrows.” 
Then, with a joy that cannot be uttered, he com- 
prehended the truth — 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFORD. 


341 


“ Everything was fully done 
Ages long ago ; 

Jesus died and paid it all — 

All the debt I owe.” 

Doubt, cloud and darkness vanished, a new light 
came to his eye, a clear, glad tone to his voice. 

Sounds as if he could hardly help singinY’ his 
modier murmured to herself, watching him and 
wondering, and yet vaguely guessing something 
of what this change must mean — a change so ap- 
parent in many ways that she could not but 
notice it. 

Energetic and earnest Sam was in other things, 
and the same characteristics marked his entrance 
upon a new life and service. He looked upon the 
dear ones in his home — far dearer now than they 
had ever been before — and longed to have them 
also belong to the Master. Since his father’s death, 
young though he was, he had been virtually the 
head of the household, and now, as the days went 
by, he became more and more desirous that his 
home should be a Christian home. It must at least 
have its family altar, and though it required an 
effort to propose this, he did propose it. 

Mother,” he said, one evening, it don’t seem 
right to live the way we do ; I feel as if it wasn’t. 


342 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFORD. 


Wouldn’t you be willing we should read a chapter 
and have a prayer every night and morning ?” 

^^Why, Sammy, I hain’t no objections/’ she an- 
swered, slowly, yet with some surprise stealing into 
her mild voice. 

“ Shall we begin to-night ?” 

Yes, if you want to, Sammy.” 

Teddy thrust his hands into his pockets, turned 
around and looked at his brother, and Susie opened 
her eyes to their widest extent. But when Sam 
seated himself by the table and opened the Bible, 
they also sat down and listened quietly while he 
read the words of that grateful, trustful Psalm — 

Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is 
within me, bless his holy name. 

Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all 
his benefits ; 

Who forgiveth all thine iniquities, who healeth 
all thy diseases ; 

Who redeemeth thy life from destruction ; who 
crowneth thee with loving-kindness and tender 
mercies.” 

When he closed the book and knelt, they, after 
a moment’s hesitation, followed his example. It 
was a short and very simple prayer, and the voice 
that offered it w’as not quite steady, but it was fer- 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFORD. 


343 


vent, and even the children understood it — un- 
derstood that Sam was praying for them. They 
arose with a certain feeling of awe mingled with 
their wondering that forbade their expressing any 
curiosity or asking any questions. The mother was 
equally silent. She had wiped some tears away 
during the reading and the prayer, but she made 
no remark upon the subject afterward, and, indeed, 
did not seem inclined to talk about anything. 

After a time the children went away to bed, and 
the mother and son were left sitting by the fire 
alone. Sam, watching her face, fancied that it 
wore a troubled look. He wished she would speak, 
but she did not ; she only sat quietly gazing into 
the fire, apparently watching the flashing, dancing 
blaze. He had something to say to her, however, 
and might not find a more favorable opportunity 
than this ; so, after waiting in vain for her to open 
any conversation, he said : 

Did you know it^ll be communion in Dr. Roy’s 
church two weeks from next Sunday ?” 

^^No, I didn’t know; is it?” she answered, rather 
absently. 

Yes ; he told me so. And, mother, that’s the 
time that any one who wants to join the church 
has a chance to do it. There’s been a good many 


344 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFORD. 


taken into all the churches lately — likely there41 
be a good many this time — but, anyway, I mean to 
be one/^ 

She looked at him — a look that he did not 
quite understand. Opposition was not to be ex- 
pected from her in any case, but he began to fear 
that she felt some dislike to his taking the step he 
had proposed. His old habits of reticence still 
made it not easy for him to speak freely where he 
felt deeply, but he tried to make something like an 
explanation : 

When we know God has made us, takes care 
of us and gives us everything, and that Christ died 
for us, it seems only right that we should try to 
live for him and be willing folks should know we 
mean to — ” 

He paused, for his mother suddenly leaned her 
head upon her hands and burst into tears. 

What is it, mother he asked, surprised and 
troubled. You don’t want me not to do it?” 

‘^No, no, J ain’t like that,” she sobbed. ^^But 
oh, Sammy! I’m all alone now. You’ve gone 
away and left me behind.” 

Sam’s perplexity deepened ; he did not know 
what to answer, for he scarcely understood her 
meaning. She herself could not well have ex- 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFORD. 


345 


plained it. She had been learning to lean upon 
and trust in him more and more of late ; she had 
awakened to some faint feeling of motherly pride 
in him. But this evening the reading and the 
prayer had made her feel that, in some way, they 
were far apart. She realized that he had changed, 
and that the life upon which he had entered was 
different from hers. It almost seemed that he had 
gone out of her world, and the new sense of dis- 
tance and separation came with a sharp pang. 

Go with me, then, mother,’’ he said, at last, 
not knowing what else to say. 

She looked at him, the tears standing in her 
faded eyes ; 

^^Oh, I can’t! I don’t know how to I You’re 
goiu’ to be a Christian and try to live right, and 
some way I don’t know nothin’ about it. I’ve had 
a hard life, Sammy, all these years, and seen a 
good many troubles, and it don’t seem as if there 
was much of me left that God would care anything 
about. I ain’t good, anyway.” 

He does care. He knows we ain’t any of us 
good, and he don’t wait for that ; if he did I don’t 
know what would become of me,” said Sam, earn- 
estly. “ It’s just that Jesus loved us and died for 
us and ^vants to save us. He only asks us to trust 


346 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFOED. 


him, and then try to live for him as well as we 
can ; he don’t ask anything more or better than 
that.” 

The mother listened almost as a child might 
have done. They talked long, and as she talked 
and questioned she grew gradually calmer and 
more comforted. Through her son’s words a higher 
voice than his spoke to her, and from that evening 
her feeble, uncertain steps began to turn heaven- 
ward. 

Through these weeks, Kent Graham had been 
watching with untold anxiety the one who was 
dearest of all on earth to him. Should so many 
be pressing into the kingdom and his father still 
remain without? While so many hearts were 
troubled or rejoicing, could his be quite unmoved ? 
Mr. Graham had usually been a regular attendant 
at church, and he went now, with Kent, to many 
of the evening meetings. Was he altogether in- 
different to it all ? Kent wondered, stealing often a 
glance toward the grave, attentive face beside him 
and trying to read its expression. The air of quiet, 
, respectful attention was always the same, but the 
services once over, he scarcely ever made any re- 
mark or comment upon them, and day by day 
Kent waited, prayed and hoped for some evidence 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFOBD. 


347 


of more than his common interest, some manifesta- 
tion of feeling. 

Self-contained and reserved Mr. Graham always 
was. He could converse frankly and genially 
upon ordinary topics, but of anything that con- ^ 
cerned himself alone, his own feelings, he scarcely 
ever spoke. Of his wife, so dearly loved and so 
deeply mourned, he rarely uttered a word, even 
to those 'who had also loved her, and Kent 
could not remember that, after the first few weeks 
of bereavement, his father had ever mentioned to 
him the one who was so dear to them both. Yet 
even then, young as he was, he had divined some- 
thing of how far that silence was removed from 
forgetfulness, and he questioned now if hours like 
these would not bring up afresh the memory of 
that deathbed, and give new power to the beloved 
one’s dying plea. 

As the days went by his heart grew sad with 
disappointed hope. One day Dr. Williston dropped 
in, as he often did, and in the course of conversa- 
tion made some light remark about the unusual 
number of meetings that were held and the reason 
for it. Mr. Graham checked him, almost sternly. 

No sneers in that direction, Williston, if you 
expect me to talk with you. There are things that 


348 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFOBD. 


are sacred, whatever you may think of them ; treat 
them with reverence or let them alone.” 

The doctor elevated his eyebrows and looked at 
him a little curiously, as though he would like to 
ask some pointed questions, but he desisted, and 
dropped the subject. Kent, at a little distance, 
watched the two for a moment, and then, as the 
conversation changed to some commonplace theme, 
turned away with a sigh. It was only his fathers 
fine sense of justice and propriety that had spoken, 
he thought. 

Weeks passed, and even Dr. Williston seemed 
to have lost all inclination to speak of such subjects 
with levity. The power that was working on 
every side was too mighty to be discredited or de- 
nied, its influence so widely spread that even the 
most careless and reckless could not doubt its ex- 
istence. 

^^Kent,” said Sam, one morning, when his friend 
had come out to Clannyford, Jesus is our King ; 
I am going to town next Sunday to take the oath 
of allegiance.” 

Kent grasped his hand warmly. 

Sworn into his service. Yes, that is it,” he 
said, thoughtfully. I am very glad of it, Sam.” 

He was glad. He had himself been numbered 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFORD. 


349 


with God’s people for nearly a year now, and he 
could understand and sympathize with the feeling 
that shone in his companion’s eyes, yet he thought, 
as he rode away. 

Such a flood-tide of grace, and that one dear, 
noble heart all untouched ! How can it be ?” 



CHAPTER XVII. 

HE winter snow was lying white and cold 
over Clannyford. Mrs. Gray’s flower-beds 
were only white mounds and ridges now, 
no flower or shrub lifting its head without, 
and only the few plants in her little parlor holding 
a bright remembrance of the vanished summer- 
time. 

Mrs. Gray sat in a large easy-chair by her win- 
dow looking out at those same pure drifts, while 
Vernie Mead, at another window, was watering 
the blossoming plants within and clipping away 
the dead leaves. Paler, thinner and more feeble 
Mrs. Gray had grown this winter — ^scarcely able to 
be out at all since the early fall. Mrs. Mead had 
paid her a visit — the first for a number of years — 
and finding her old friend’s health so poor, had, 
upon her return home, sent Vernie to stay with 
her for a time. 

I really do not think that I am sick enough to 
need nursing and taking care of, dear, though I 

350 



CHINKS OF CLANNYFORD. 


351 


am very glad to have you here/^ Mrs. Gray said 
when she welcomed the young girl. 

Yernie thought differently as she looked at her 
and noticed how frail she had grown, and Miss 
Crail, who ran in for a little while on the evening 
of Verniers arrival, found a chance to say to her, 
aside, 

I am very glad you came. I have felt for 
some time that she ought not to be left alone.” 

It was to Mrs. Gray, as she had said, very pleas- 
ant to have Yernie there. The bright, girlish 
presence, the light step and the clear voice cheered 
and enlivened her hours of weakness and weari- 
ness ; her sympathy with and love for young people 
had always been strong, and she enjoyed this com- 
panionship now. But that she also needed her 
young friend^s assistance and care she soon learned, 
for the first intensely cold weather seemed to pros- 
trate her small remaining strength at once and 
make her thoroughly an invalid no longer able to 
leave her room. 

A kind, tender, faithful nurse Yernie was. Her 
fifteen years of life had given her no great ex- 
perience, certainly, but the qualifications that fit 
one for attendance in the sick-room are more 
natural than acquired, and Yernie had a firm, 


352 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFORD. 


light step, a quick, observant eye and skillful 
fingers that seemed to know when and how to ar- 
range the pillows and shade the light. She had had 
some advantages in being an only daughter, too. 
She had been her mother’s constant companion, and 
so grown more womanly and thoughtful than she 
might otherwise have been, and Mrs. Gray, ill 
though she was, suffered from no severe pain that 
made active remedies and ceaseless watching neces- 
sary. 

This freedom from intense suffering deceived 
Yernie’s inexperience, and day by day she expected 
some sign of returning health. There were slight 
fluctuations in the disease — the patient weaker to- 
day, a little better to-morrow, then weaker again — 
but the young nurse waited in vain for any perma- 
nent sign of returning strength. She wondered 
at it. 

Mrs. Gray looked up from the pillows of her 
sofa with a smile : 

I suppose it means, dear, that my journey is 
nearly ended. I did not understand at first, but I 
think I do now.” 

‘‘Oh no, not that!” Yernie answered, quickly. 
It came so suddenly, this thought that had not once 
crossed her mind before. 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFORD. 


353 


Why not?’^ Mrs. Gray asked, still smiling. 
“Not because my life has been so short, surely? 
The way I have come must seem long to you, 
looking forward.” 

Yernie glanced at the pale face and silvering 
hair. Seventy years! it did seem long. 

“ Yes,” she answered, frankly. 

“I know; it did to me once. When I had 
come rather more than half the way, the rest of 
the journey looked long — oh, so terribly long ! — 
tome. I was left alone then, Yernie; those that 
were dearest to me had all been taken. I thought 
of the many years of life that might lie before me, 
and they looked so long and dreary — just a lonely 
desert, it seemed to me then. But they have not 
been so ; God has filled them full. There has been 
call enough for hope and fear, interest, sympathy 
and friendship, to keep my heart warm and in felr 
lowship with the human world about me.” She 
lay quietly for a few moments, then added, mus- 
ingly, “ There is a depth of meaning that many 
people do not think of in the promise, ^ Those 
that trust in Him shall never be desolate.’ ” 

A day or two after this conversation Mr. Graham 
came out. 

“I wish you would see Dr. Wllliston, Aunt 
23 


354 CHINKS OF CLANNYFOBH. 

Gray/’ he said, thoughtfully, finding that she was 
no better. 

I scarcely think it will do any good, but I am 
willing to see him if you wish, Robert,” she an- 
swered, and Mr. Graham went back to the city 
and brought out the doctor that same afternoon. 

The medical gentleman examined into the case 
carefully, as was his wont, but he said very little. 
He prescribed but little either in the way of rem- 
edies — a simple tonic and something that might 
relieve, in a measure, the troublesome cough. His 
patient felt that his judgment coincided with hers 
in regard to her condition. 

‘^What do you think of her?” Mr. Graham 
asked him as the two drove away together. 

“ I think that she is right in her opinion — she 
will never rally. It is possible, though not prob- 
able, that she may' live until spring, but the chang- 
ing weather then would almost certainly prove 
fatal,” the doctor replied. 

After a moment’s pause he said, thoughtfully, 

Graham, whatever I may have said, or may be- 
lieve about some things, do you know I am always 
glad to find any patient of mine a Christian ? — such 
a one as she is ? That seems an odd thing for me 
to say, doesn’t it? But they are more likely to be 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFORD. 


355 


quiet and untroubled, and improve faster where 
there is a chance for recovery, and where there is 
none, why, I tell you it is a hard thing to see any 
one going down to death, struggling, resisting, 
holding back all the way, begging of you to save 
him when there is nothing on earth that can be 
done. I have seen such things more than once. 
But this Mrs. Gray, now — she has a firm faith that 
whatever lies before her is brighter than anything 
she is leaving behind/^ 

Yes, she has firm faith,” Mr. Graham answered, 
with some emotion in his voice. Doctor, I have 
seen more than one such deathbed, and it is not 
easy to doubt the brightness of heaven when you 
have seen the glory of the gates through which 
such as these pass.” 

Vernie, who had watched anxiously through 
the doctor^s visit to have him speak some assuring 
word of hope, seated herself, after he had gone, 
and wrote to her mother an account of the invalid’s 
state, and it was agreed upon that her intended 
visit of three or four w^eeks should be prolonged 
indefinitely. 

The sick-room was by no means lonely, for the 
sufferer liked still to see those w^hom she had been 
accustomed to seeing. Maggie Nolan came often, 


356 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFORD. 


her bright face no longer clouded by a home sorrow, 
for, as she expressed it, Tim was steady as a clock 
Ihese days/’ Her warm heart bore in remembrance 
the time of her first coming to Clannyford and 
Mrs. Gray’s kindness to her then — her advice in 
planting the ^^bit of a garden,” her assistance and 
teaching in cutting out and making clothing for the 
children, and, more than all, her unselfish, faithful 
care and help when little Mitty had been stricken 
down with fever. It’s an ignorant bit of a young 
crayther I was, not knowin’ at all what to do but 
for her tellin’ me.” And though she had greatly 
increased in housekeeping lore, and had needed 
little of such assistance for the last three or four 
years, yet past favors were not forgotten, nor her 
olden esteem and friendship lessened. Now that 
Mrs. Gray was ill, she slipped away often from 
her home work and little ones to spend a few 
minutes there. 

Little Susie Cresly stopped frequently to inquire 
after the invalid, and Mrs. Cresly came now and 
then, quiet and timid, saying but little after she 
had come, but showing her good-will by coming. 
Miss Crail devoted a great portion of her time to 
her friend. Mr. Graham came out often, taking 
care that the invalid had every comfort, and anx- 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFOBD. 357 

ious to gratify any wish that she might express, 
and Kent was there daily. 

I do not feel at all like a lonely old woman 
who has nothing to bind her to earth, and yet that 
is what I once thought I should be when this time 
came,’’ she said to Miss Crail one day. 

No ; there are those who love you here as 
well as there, and it is bright for you either 
Tvay. But what shall I do without you?” Miss 
Crail answered. 

Tenderly the wasted, tremulous hand was laid 
upon hers : 

Trust your God with that, my dear. If your 
truest happiness, your best good, needs anything to 
fill my place — any new interest or friendship — be 
sure it will be sent you. God leaves no empty 
places that are not better so.” 

“But sometimes it seems as if my heart has 
not a place in it that is not either a wound or a 
scar,” Miss Crail said, sadly, for these days of 
going with her friend down to the river side 
brought back vividly the memory of other sor- 
rows. 

“I know what that feeling is,” Mrs. Gray an- 
swered. “It does not last always, nor even long, 
and looking back on any one of all those trials, I 


358 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFOBD. 


doubt not you will find interwoven with it the 
traces of a Saviour’s love — some lesson learned, 
some comfort given or new hope gained that would 
make you not willing to undo it if you could, and 
be quite what you were before : ‘ He knoweth best 
who knoweth all.’ ” 

^^True,” Miss Crail said, thoughtfully, though 
the tears still clung to her lashes; ‘^we are sure 
to see that afterward, sooner or later. But at 
first—” 

^^Ah! at first,” interrupted Mrs. Gray, with a 
faint smile. ^^Do you know I was thinking, to- 
day, how very much happier life would be if we 
were content to take our sorrows no faster than 
God sends them to us, and not carry such a burden 
of fears for many things that never befall? Jeho- 
vah-jireh — the Lord will provide.” 

The short winter days made no tarrying, and 
each one of them seemed to take something from 
the invalid’s strength, yet they were quiet, peaceful 
days and the sick-room a sunny, cheerful place. 
To it friends carried their little items of intelli- 
gence, their plans and hopes, sure that now, as 
always, they would excite sympathy and interest. 
The Sabbath-school, the Bible-class, the store and 
their growth and prospects were still talked of 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFORD. 


359 


and cared for there, and projects for their benefit 
formed and discussed. 

Kent, one afternoon, brought a letter from Jas- 
per and read it, partly for Aunt Gray’s benefit, 
and partly for Vernie’s, for notwithstanding her 
own frequent letters from home, nothing from there 
could be uninteresting to Yernie. It contained 
some pictures of how the winter was passing, 
what work and pleasures it was bringing to the 
inmates of the old farmhouse, some account of 
books and studies, and then Jasper wrote : 

Do you remember how, two or three years ago, 
we used to talk over what we would do and be 
w^hen we grew older ? I have decided now, Kent : 
I want to be a minister. I always thought it was 
a noble, useful calling, but I never used to feel 
about it as I do this winter. I am thinking about 
it in all my studying now. I wrote to Lewis about 
it, and he sent me back word to ^ go ahead, and he 
guessed by the time I was ready to go to college he 
should be able to help me if I wanted any help.’ 
That was just like Lewis, wasn’t it? — so kind- 
hearted and generous. He is doing very well 
there, and Mr. Austin likes him.” 

Dear Lew ! Yes, that is just like him !” Yer- 
nie said, affectionately. 


360 


CHINKS OF GLANNYFORD. 


'^Jasper a minister of the gospel Mrs. Gray 
said, musingly. The last time I saw him he was 
only a little boy — a quiet, thoughtful little fellow 
— and I have never thought of him as anything 
else, though I might, when Lewis is old enough to 
be away in business and Vernie has grown into 
my faithful nurse. The children are not children 
any longer. I used to think Jasper very like his 
Uncle George,’’ she added, slowly, after a moment’s 
pause. I hope he will preach as faithfully and 
well, but I shall not be here to see it.” 

There was, or Miss Grail fancied there was, a 
faint touch of sadness in the last sentence. She 
bent over her friend’s pillow, and said, softly. 

Thine eyes shall see the King in his beauty ; 
they shall behold the land that is very far off.” 

A bright smile lighted up the invalid’s pale face. 
Yes, and that will be far better than the sight 
of any earthly good — the King, my King, in his 
beauty.” 

Christmas came and passed with its sweetly tender 
associations and rejoicings. Mrs. Gray had talked 
and planned and even assisted slightly in the pre- 
paring of various little gifts for the Sabbath-school 
scholars, but she had overtaxed her feeble strength 
in doing so, and suffered from reaction afterward. 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFOED. 


361 


Mr. Graham and Kent, going out the day after, 
found her much worse — not suffering much pain, 
but weak and exhausted. Her face showed it so 
plainly that there was no need for making inquiry, 
Mr. Graham thought, as he sat beside her. 

She welcomed them, as she always did, then 
glanced at Vernie. 

‘^Go and lie down, dear,’’ she said. ^^Your 
uncle or Kent will stay with me for an hour, while 
you rest. I was wakeful last night, and Yernie 
is so careful of me that she cannot sleep if she 
thinks I do not.” 

She spoke feebly, and as Yernie left the room 
closed her eyes wearily and lay quite still for a 
time. Mr. Graham hoped she was falling asleep, 
and remained motionless lest he should disturb 
her, watching her face with a growing conviction 
that her weary days and wakeful nights would 
soon be over. Suddenly her eyes unclosed and 
met his. She read something of his thought, and 
smiled. 

'^Almost home now, and a Saviour’s love is 
brightening and gladdening every step of the way. 
Oh, Eobert, dear Eobert, if you but knew this 
precious faith ! When will you be his ?” 

Now,” he answered, quietly, yet so distinctly 


362 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFORD, 


that Kent, standing by the window, heard the 
word plainly, and started. 

Father burst from his lips. 

His father turned his head slightly, and met his 
anxious, questioning, eager look with a smile, and 
yet with moistening eyes, then answered again, 
‘^Kow, Aunt Gray. I have been seeking him 
for weeks, or, rather, God’s great love and mercy 
have sought me, and I trust have drawn me to 
himself. I know myself a sinner, and Christ my 
only Saviour. There are long, wasted years in the 
past — years that I cannot undo — but I want to be 
his now and always, if he will accept me, and I 
dare not, do not, doubt his willingness.’’ 

Mrs. Gray clasped the speaker’s hand with her 
slender, trembling fingers, but for a moment she 
was silent. 

was thinking, just for an instant,” she said, 
what tidings these would be to carry up to heaven. 
But the rejoicing angels knew it first.” 

She could talk but little, and Kent’s heart was 
too full for words. He stood at the window watch- 
ing the falling snow-flakes, but every heart-throb 
was a glad thanksgiving. A happy hour that was, 
though it passed almost silently. There was no 
feeling of constraint or want of sympathy in the 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFOBD. 


363 


silence; it was but the quietness that in a new, 
joy is so welcome. 

Vernie came bact after a time. No one had 
noticed how long she had been absent until she 
had excused herself for having allowed her one 
hour to become two. 

“But I was sleeping so soundly that I didn’t 
waken until a few minutes ago. I hope I haven’t 
kept you waiting when you wanted to go, Uncle 
Robert ?” she said. 

“ No, I have been in no hurry to go,” he an- 
swered, smiling. But as he glanced at the window 
and saw how the storm was increasing, he arose, 
“ 1 had better not wait any longer, though. Kent 
stays to-night, I believe.” 

Kent followed him to the door and stood there 
with him for a moment. 

“ You had better stay, I think,” his father said. 
“ It is possible they may need you, and in such a 
storm it would not be easy for them to send for 
any one.” 

Kent assented, and they clasped hands for an 
instant with a warm, close, fervent pressure that 
expressed more than they could readily have told 
in words, then Mr. Graham hurried away. 

Just at dark Miss Crail came in. She had come 


364 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFORD. 


to spend the night, but the fast-falling snow kept 
all others away, and the little group gathered about 
the fire for a quiet evening. They had become 
well acquainted during the last few weeks. Vernie 
had grown familiar with the village, its inhabitants 
and interests, and the flow of conversation was cheer- 
ful and easy, Mrs. Gray’s faint voice joining in it 
now and then as she lay supported by her pillows. 
At last she said : 

Sing something.” 

They sang hymn after hymn, and she lay smiling 
and listening, but with closed eyes. 

Now that new Sabbath-school hymn that you 
were teaching to some of the children the other 
day, Yernie — ^ Stand up for Jesus.’ ” 

As the simple, earnest battle-cry of the chorus, 

“Stand up, stand up for Jesus, 

For Jesus and his cross ! 

Lift high the royal banner, 

It must not suffer loss,” 

died away, she said : 

I feel, these last days, as if I wanted to give 
that charge to every one. You are all the pledged 
followers of the Master, dear friends ; never forget, 
never be faithless. In the light or in the darkness, 
work, work ; be anything, everything, for his sake. 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFORD. 365 

The utmost you can do will seem very little in an 
hour like this. He has done so much for us.’^ 

The faint voice grew lower still ; even the slight 
etfort of speaking so much had wearied her. She 
closed her eyes again, and presently seemed to fall 
into a light slumber. They carefully shaded the 
light from her face, and busied themselves very 
quietly with their books and work lest they should 
disturb her. More than an hour passed without 
her awakening, and Miss Crail went to her side 
and bent over her for a moment. 

She is breathing easily and naturally, and appears 
to be sleeping quite comfortably,’’ she said, in a 
low voice, as she came back to the fire. do 
not think that she is any worse than she has been 
through the day, and it is so late that we had all 
better try to rest. Kent needs it after his long ride 
through the cold, and, Vernie, ycu must go to your 
own room to-night and sleep as soundly and com- 
fortably as you can, for you have been kept awake 
so much lately. I will lie here on the sofa, and I 
can call either of you in a moment if you should 
be needed, so do not hesitate to go.” 

Vernie demurred a little at leaving her friend 
alone, but her objections were speedily overruled, 
and they separated for the night. Vernie was 


366 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFOBB. 


tired, but as she placed the lamp upon the little 
stand in her room and turned to draw the curtains 
at the window, she paused for a moment with her 
face pressed close against the pane and looked out. 
The snow lay piled up white on the window-sill 
and covered all the ground, but it had ceased fall- 
ing and the moon was dimly beginning to show. 

“ As tliese white robes are soiled and dark 
To yonder shining ground, 

As this pale taper’s glimmering spark 
To yonder argent round, 

So shows my soul before the Lamb, 

My spirit before thee ; 

So in my earthly house I am 
To what I hope to be.” 

The lines came to Vernie’s thought as she looked. 
She felt such a longing to be purer, better, truer. 
The days in the sick-room had not been useless 
ones to her — indeed, no experience that God sends 
to his children is useless — and these had made her 
see something of how life would seem in retrospect, 
and what death might be made. She had heard 
this evening, too, of the words her uncle Graham 
had spoken, and to her grateful heart this precious 
faith shared by yet another dear one grew more 
precious and glorious still. She longed to be more 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFORD. 


867 


earnest and faithful, not only to know the power 
and safety of holiness, but that her whole life 
might also show forth the beauty of holiness/’ 
And how could a soul weak, impatient and sinful 
as hers be sufficient for these things ? She could 
but lift it to Him in whose keeping it was, and 
pray that He who was the Author would also be 
the Finisher of her faith. 

The rooms below were quiet, and her head once 
fairly nestled upon its pillow, she was soon sleeping. 
But ^‘at midnight a cry was made. Behold the 
Bridegroom cometh !” 

Nay, Aad come, for when Kent and Vernie, 
summoned by Miss Crail, hastened to the bedside 
of the sufferer, they found a sufferer no longer 
— the spirit had passed without a pang or 
struggle. 

Lonely the house seemed the next morning — 
more lonely still afterward — but the associations 
connected with it were not, could not be, gloomy. 
Miss Crail, going from it to her own home, realized 
of how much she had been bereaved, how much 
she must miss that had been very dear to her ; yet 
she felt strengthened for the life ]:)efore her, for 
work and for warfare — more anxious to do all in 
her power, that no scheme of usefulness commenced 


368 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFORD. 


should fail or suffer because there was one worker 
less. 

Kent, too, missed his old friend sorely. She had 
taken, in part, a mother’s place, and had been more 
to him than he ever knew until he could no longer 
seek her loving counsel and sympathy. To her he 
had carried many doubts, questions and troubled 
thoughts that now must be borne alone, save as he 
learned more and more to carry them all to her 
Saviour and his. And just here this sorrow bore 
rich fruitage to Kent, in that it taught him to look 
less to any disciple, however beloved, and more to 
the Master. It is not ill for any of us to have 
many things that we share with Jesus only, and 
when we lean too heavily upon any human friend- 
ship, we are almost certainly severed from it that 
our strength may be not from earth, but from 
heaven. 

Yernie remained for a few days at her uncle 
Graham’s, and then went home, carrying good 
tidings of two pilgrims — the one who had just en- 
tered through the wicket gate, and the other who 
had crossed the river and passed into the celestial 
city. 


CHAPTER XVIII. 

YEAR has passed over Clannyford, all its 
hours doing their work on the place and 
its people, chiseling, altering, building, over- 
turning — work not always plainly discerni- 
ble at first, but standing out more and more clearly 
as the hours grow into days and the days into 
months. 

Kent, who has been away upon a six months’ 
tour with his father, is quick to notice changes 
upon his return. The addition of a new room to 
the factory has been completed, and some more 
machinery and workmen engaged, so that the vil- 
lage has grown larger by several families. 

And what sort of people are they, Sam ? — these 
new ones ?” Kent asked of his friend as they stood 
together in the store. 

Mostly quiet, orderly, respectable people, I be- 
lieve,” Sam replied, at least so far as I have seen 
anything of them, and I see almost every one, you 
know.” 

The store has prospered and its business increased 

24 369 



370 


CHTNKS OF CLANNYFORD. 


SO much that Sam finds constant employment there, 
and has given up his place in the mill. He has made 
arrangements too, since Mr. Graham and Kent have 
returned, by which he is to purchase his partner's 
interest. The terms offered him have, of course, 
been easy and liberal, and he expects, in the course 
of a year or two, to have the business his own. The 
entire control, all planning and executing, have, in- 
deed, been his for the past six months, and as Kent 
is soon to enter upon a course of medical study, the 
establishment is already virtually Sam’s. 

You do not need to work for a living,” he said, 
half playfully, when Kent told him his intention 
of becoming a physician, 

“Working is my living,” Kent answered, more 
seriously, “and if I need not be very particular 
about my fees, so much the better; I can give 
more of my practice to the poor, who will need 
it most.” 

Kent is thoroughly gratified by his companion’s 
success. It seems to him that Sam has changed 
and improved rapidly, even during the few months 
he has been absent. He has grown more manly 
and self-possessed, and is so thoroughly, nobly in 
earnest about everything that he undertakes. That 
he has won the confidence and respect of others 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFORD. 


371 


is evident from the way in which they speak to 
him and of him. 

I think Clannyford is better than it used to be 
in a number of ways/’ Sam said, coming back to 
Kent’s side, from which he had been called by a 
customer. Oh, Kent, there is one thing I believe 
I didn’t write to you about. We have started a 
temperance society here, and a good many of the 
mill hands have joined. Ted and some of the other 
boys have been carrying pledges about, and they 
have succeeded very well in getting signers, young 
and old. Ted seems to consider himself bound to 
the temperance cause ever since a stranger gave him 
a quarter for a certain lecture up at Favisham’s.” 
A smile flitted over Sam’s face at the memory. 

^^I’m glad of it,” said Kent, heartily — “glad 
about the society. I was thinking of some such 
plan while I was away, and wondering how it 
would answer. I heard Gough one evening, and 
that first gave me the idea, I believe.” 

“ I wish we could have Gough here for once,” 
said Sam, musingly. “ Our little schoolhouse meet- 
ings can’t afford to look as high as that, though, but 
I think we ought to have some lectures here this 
winter. There’s been some talk about it, but noth- 
ing done yet ; I’m glad you’re back, on that account. 


372 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFOED. 


Do you know, Kent, when folks have decided that 
a thing is good and right to be done, I can’t see 
any use in waiting to talk it threadbare before they 
make a move ?” 

Kent laughed. 

It isn’t youT way,” he said. ^yhen you be- 
lieve anything ought to be done, you believe it all 
over, but there are some people who seem able to 
believe with their tongues a long time before their 
hands are convinced. But about these lectures; 
I should think it could easily be managed. There 
are several very good speakers in our own city, 
without going any farther.” 

One good thing about it,” Sam remarked, is 
that it would be a pleasant way of passing some 
of the winter evenings. A good many of the men 
would like it for that. They don’t know what to 
do with themselves after they’re off from the mill, 
and it would be some use to them that way, besides 
the lecture itself.” 

‘^That reminds me,” said Kent, “of something 
father was speaking about a few days ago — ^procur- 
ing a good library for the use of the village, so that 
whoever chose could take books from it.” 

Sam’s eyes brightened. He had not lost his love 
of books — it had deepened and strengthened, rather 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFOBD. 


373 


— and he had studied still more carefully and faith- 
fully since the motives that actuated him had grown 
purer and higher. His interest was awakened at 
once, and the two were soon deep in a discussion 
of books, rapidly remembering one after another 
that would be just the thing.’^ 

‘^That’s a plan worth thinking about,’^ said 
Sam, enthusiastically. “It would please a great 
many, too, for there are Very few that care about 
wandering off to the station and spending their 
evenings talking and drinking to what there used 
to be. It seems to me the whole place has grown 
more quiet and steady than it was a few years ago.’’ 

“I think so too,” Kent answered, “and Mr. 
Crail has noticed it. He told father that he had 
had a more orderly, faithful, steady set of workmen 
for the last year and a half than had ever been in 
the mill before. He thinks two things have had a 
great deal to do with it — this store, for one, because 
it has furnished no liquor, and yet has kept such a 
good variety of groceries, and at such reasonable 
and honest prices, that the people have traded 
here almost entirely, and the other has been the 
steady running of the mill — no stopping that could 
in any way be avoided. He says the employes 
have appeared to take more interest in the place 


374 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFOBD. 


and feel more that it is home, because they have 
a prospect of constant employment here/^ 

And there is something else that has helped to 
make a change, too,’^ Sam added. ‘‘Since your 
father had those notices, ‘No swearing allowed,^ 
put up in every room, there has been very little of 
it heard there to what there once was. One of the 
men was speaking to me about it the other day. 
He had got into a way of swearing a great deal, 
and no mill that he had ever worked in before had 
tried to hinder it. When he first saw that rule, he 
thought it was a queer one and over-particular. 
But still he didn’t want to lose a good place for a 
habit that was no benefit to him, so he tried to be 
very careful when Mr. Grail or any of the over- 
seers were around, and having to watch so much 
of the time had broken him of swearing altogether. 
I don’t know that he thinks much about it as a 
sin, but he says it is ‘ foolish and not respectable,’ 
and he’s ‘ glad to get cured of it.’ ” 

“ I must tell father that,” said Kent. “ I think 
he will be at Mr. Grail’s this evening, Sam ; sup- 
pose you come over, and we will have a talk about 
the lectures and see what can be done. Miss 
Grail will be interested in getting them up, I am 
sure.” 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFORD. 375 

‘‘What lectures?” asked Teddy, who had just 
come in from school and deposited his books upon 
a soap-box. 

“We haven’t decided what ones yet,” Sam an- 
swered, laughing. “ There comes Mrs. Clark, Ted ; 
go and wait on her, won’t you ?” 

Teddy hurried behind the counter with a most 
business-like — 

“ Syrup ? Yes, ma’am, we have it, and the very 
best kind too.” 

He went to draw it for her, and Mrs. Clark 
glanced over at Sam. 

“Did you bring any letters for me this after- 
noon ?” 

“No,” he answered. “The Western mail had 
been delayed, though, so there may be something in 
the morning.” 

“ You are not village postmaster as well as store- 
keeper ?” asked Kent, when she had gone. 

“ Not exactly, but I’m a sort of mail-carrier, and 
express agent, too. There are generally a number 
of letters to post and to inquire for, and various 
parcels to fetch and carry, whenever I go into town. 
I go regularly, you know, and have the use of a 
horse and wagon from the mill, so it’s convenient 
for any one that wants to- send.” 


376 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFOBD. 


And not quite so convenient for you,” Kent 
replied. I think you are getting your hands full 
of work.” 

“ I don’t mind that so long as it helps any one,” 
Sam said. 

As Kent looked at him there flashed across his 
mind a quick thought of the contrast this frank 
face, genial tone and unselfish heart and hand, so 
ready to help others, presented in many ways to 
the boy, Sam Cresly. Scarcely pausing to con- 
sider, he said something of the kind : 

I was thinking of how many things there are 
for you to do, and yet it is but little over four 
years since that night when you said you were 
‘ nothing to nobody.’ ” 

Kent spoke playfully, and Sam smiled at the old 
words. Still, it was a half-sad smile, as memory 
swept back over those dark days and recalled the 
sullen hopelessness, the bitterness and fierce pride 
that had filled his heart. 

“I know,” he said, slowly; felt just so then. 
But now” — a quick light came to his eyes and a 
sudden earnestness to his tones — oh, Kent ! I 
would be all things to all men, if so I might win 
any to Christ. What was it you were reading the 
other day ? — 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFORD. 


377 


“ ‘No pride of place thy service hath, 

No room for me and mine ; 

Our human strength is weakness, death 
Our life, apart from thine. 

“ ‘ Apart from thee all gain is loss. 

All labor vainly done ; 

The solemn shadow of thy cross 
Is better than the sun.’ ” 

There was a mementos silence, and then Susie’s 
bright face looked in at the door. She paused for 
a moment, half shyly, at sight of Kent, then ad- 
vanced to her brother’s side : 

Ma sent me to see if you couldn’t come up to 
supper earlier to-night. She wants to go over to 
Mrs. Sharp’s a little while, ’cause AVillie’s sick.” 

Yes, you can go, Sam,” said Teddy, with the 
air of a proprietor giving liberty to a clerk, I’ll 
’tend the store till you come back.” 

Sam laughed, but availed himself of the offer, 
which had, indeed, some self-sacrifice in it, since 
Teddy was just from school, with a hungry school- 
boy’s appetite, and usually had his own supper 
first and relieved his brother afterward. 

Susie, well pleased that the matter had been so 
easily arranged to suit her mother’s convenience, 
slipped her hand into Sam’s for the homeward 


378 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFORD. 


walk, and Kent accompanied them as far as the 
gate — a new gate, for the old, tumble-down fence 
had given place to a neat paling within the last 
year. The house had been freshly painted, too, 
and a pretty little portico built over the front door. 
Sam had been anxious to make these improvements 
as soon as he felt able to do so, and as he had done 
the work himself whenever he could find time, 
the expense had been but trifling. 

They lingered a moment for a parting word con- 
cerning the evening’s engagement, and then Kent 
passed on to meet his father at Mr. Grail’s and 
to speak to him of the subject they had been con- 
sidering. 

Mr. Graham was interested in it at once. The 
villagers of Clannyford were not now to him so 
much ^Hhe mill-hands” as ^‘my people.” It was 
so that he thought of them oftenest, and he felt in 
no small measure responsible for their welfare. 
Any plan to benefit them was sure of his consider- 
ation. Miss Grail, too, warmly approved of the 
new society, and entered heartily into this project ; 
so the matter was pretty nearly settled at the tea- 
table, where it was thoroughly discussed, even Mr. 
Grail taking part in it by making some valuable 
suggestions. 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFOBD. 


379 


Mr. Crail has changed somewhat in the last two 
years. More kind and considerate he has grown, 
more charitable toward the weaknesses of others — 
perhaps more conscious of his own. He is more 
ready to help on any good work, and since that one 
winter when so many hearts were stirred, so many 
led from darkness to light, no sneering or careless 
word concerning the reality or power of the relig- 
ion of the Bible has ever crossed his lips. His 
sister’s loving eyes, always so watchful, have been 
quick to notice it. It is not the great change for 
which she waits and longs, yet she does accept it as 
a token of hope, and prays for him with a faith 
that does not fail. 

The influence of that winter of ’grace is felt in 
Clannyford in many ways. The Sabbath-school, 
so small in its beginning, has grown greatly in 
strength and influence, and has many warm friends 
where it once met, if not hostility, at least indiffer- 
ence. The Bible class has increased in numbers 
and interest, and from its ranks will doubtless 
come more earnest workers to strengthen the hands 
of those who from the first have been toiling so 
patiently and lovingly. 

Still the work^goes on, and the kingdom of God, 
that cometh not with observation,” extends and 


380 


CHINKS OF CLANNYFOBD. 


enlarges, though growing silently, even like the 
beautiful temple of old wherein was heard ^^no 
sound of hammer, or axe, or tool of iron/^ Here 
and there, in great things and little things, not 
always knowing what are great or what are small, 
faithful laborers are working, each in his ap- 
pointed place, but all, everywhere, for His sake in 
whom all the building fitly framed together grow- 
eth unto an holy temple in the Lord.” 


■ 


THE END. 


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